CASEY BUYING DRUG DOG

LIBERTY - The purchase of a trained dog to sniff out drugs and help in
searches was approved Monday by Casey Fiscal Court. The cost is $7,500.

The anticipation of extra state inmates with the proposed addition to the
Casey County Detention Center is one of the reasons for the purchase. It
also can help the city and county officers, schools, road department and
emergency medical service personnel when they conduct searches.

Jailer Tommy Miller said drugs are a problem at the jail especially with
work release inmates.

Judge-Executive Ronald Wright said the county can get a dog that is not
vicious and that can help track people, and do searches in schools and drug
raids by the local and county officers. He said the cost for the dog will
include training, certification and recertification. A deputy jailer will
be trained and be in charge of the dog. The jailer will have charge of
scheduling for the dog.

Magistrate Gary Johnson said it's hard to put a price on a child who gets
lost. "If we can help find one child, and be of help for law enforcement
officials in the schools, it will be worth it."

Miller said inmates are clever about getting drugs inside the jail, and a
dog will help deter that. He said if an inmate works in the same area for
several days in the garden or along roads, he can get drugs dropped off at
night or when no one is around. A dog can be useful to find the drugs, he said.

While the dog can be used for other searches, it primarily will be for the
security of the jail, Miller said.

"The jail comes first, but we need to draw up an agreement to allow the dog
to do searches for the sheriff's department or other law enforcement," he
added.

The dog will be shipped here from Europe and will take two months to train
before it arrives in the county, Miller said.