S.C. SNIFFING AROUND FOR NEW POLICE DOGS

Criteria Stringent For Canines To Be Selected For Training

The South Charleston Police Department is searching for two new canine
officers.

Precision K-9 Services in Hurricane is combing the East Coast for two
suitable dogs for the department. Only about one out of every 80 dogs can
pass the certification test for chasing down suspects and showing the
appropriate amount of aggression, Patrolman Robert Houck said.

"The dog has to be able to stand its ground and show aggression and then
turn it right off," Houck said.

Last week, Jason Cooper of Precision K-9 looked at five dogs in Leesburg,
Va., none of which meet the criteria. Cooper hopes to come home next week
from Lexington and Louisville, Ky., with two new dogs but won't hesitate to
wait for better dogs.

Cooper looked at 136 dogs before choosing one for Putnam County police.

"Jason is a very selective person. He wants to make sure the dog's going to
work," Houck said.

The dogs will be purchased and trained with $15,000 that Mayflower Vehicle
Systems is donating. Mayflower decided to donate the money after South
Charleston police did a drug sweep of their employee lockers three weeks ago.

"We were really swayed to help the police department because of their
professionalism," said Pete Peterson, plant manager of Mayflower.

Peterson believes drugs deteriorate society, and the two new dogs will help
to combat drugs in the workplace throughout the valley. He has a strict
stance on drugs at Mayflower and decided to contact the police after he
suspected several employees of using drugs.

The dogs "came across seven lockers that were suspicious" at the plant, but
Peterson declined to release further details.

"We have a zero tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol," Peterson said.
"It's a dangerous situation to mix drugs and machinery."

The primary purpose of these dogs will be to search for drugs in schools,
workplaces, vehicles and post offices. The department wants one passive
drug dog that sits down when it smells drug on a suspect and one patrol
drug dog that can chase down fleeing suspects and bite. The passive dog
will probably be a Labrador and the aggressive dog a German shepherd.

These dogs also can help officers flush out hiding fugitives.

"We can use these dogs to search for suspects in buildings instead of four
or five officers spreading out in the building and getting hurt," South
Charleston Police Chief David Dunlap said.