CANINE TEAM BREAKS GROUND -- PINCKNEY'S FIRST UNIT LOOKS TO SNIFF OUT
DRUG CRIME

Pinckney Police Department Officer Steve Hart works for the village
on a part-time basis, but has spent enough time there to recognize a
growth in the use of crack cocaine, heroin and other drugs in
southern Livingston County.

So when Hart met Kizer, a German shepherd now trained in patrol
narcotics, it was a no-brainer to welcome the young dog to the force.

Kizer, now part of the department's first K-9 unit, has been on
patrol since September after being certified in July, but wasn't
formally introduced to the community until last week's Village
Council meeting.

Hart, a dog lover at heart, has been working -- and living -- with
Kizer since the dog was 5 months old. Hart, who sought to form a K-9
unit, obtained the dog at no cost from a kennel in Metamora.

Kizer's training was donated by a retired Michigan State Police sergeant.

"They knew that I didn't have $10,000 for the dog and the training,"
Hart said.

"People have hobbies of hunting or fishing or building cars or
whatever. Mine's dogs," he explained.

The only cost to the township will be an annual insurance rider of
less than $300, said Police Chief Denis Aseltine.

Hart had five dogs at one time, and now has Kizer and a second
German shepherd, Jager, who does search-and-rescue work for the
nonprofit Michigan Search Dog Association.

Hart worked with Kizer -- colored black with brown "socks," or front
and back legs -- when he was off duty in Pinckney and at his other
job, as a part-time firefighter in Harrison Township, near Mount Clemens.

Kizer's training covers patrol, obedience, tracking, trailing, area
search, article search, building search, handler protection and
suspect apprehension.

He's trained to detect marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin and
methamphetamine.

Hart said those traits will be of great use in the area, where there
has been a significant increase in methamphetamine and heroin use in
recent years from Stockbridge to Putnam Township.

He said the increased presence of those drugs is a direct result of
a lack of police presence in the area, which has sprawling acres of
state land and open area.

Some may not consider the Pinckney and surrounding area a haven for
drug trading and use.

"It is there. Anybody that wants to believe that it's not there is
just fooling themselves," Aseltine said.

"Given the ease with which narcotics can be disguised and hidden,
the use of the K-9 dog helps tremendously in locating them," he added.

Kizer, 2, is one of four police dogs in the county, including one
for Fowlerville Community Schools and one each at the Michigan State
Police post in Brighton and at the Livingston County Sheriff's
Department, Hart said.

The trained dogs don't come with a small price tag. It typically
costs departments about $10,000 in dog training and equipment, which
doesn't include six to eight weeks of payroll paid to the assigned
handler, Hart said.

Pinckney police have already fielded a request from other
departments to lend Kizer, and plans to continue offering his
services to county agencies that request his help.

But Kizer is no house dog, and is up to the task, Hart said.

"He likes coming to work," he said.