Dog: Ben

TUTTLE OFFICER BUYS K-9

TUTTLE -- Jeremy Lewis decided that Tuttle, for whom he works as a police
officer, needed a K-9 dog to help attack the crime problem in the growing
area. So he went out and bought Ben, a young German shepherd. And it didn't
cost the city a cent.

In four days, after he received the City Council's approval, he went to all
the merchants of Tuttle and raised $4,000 -- enough to pay Ben's $3,500
price tag as well as the cost of special training classes for Lewis and the
dog, along with equipment.

Now the officer and Ben are the best of friends.

"I've spent so much time with him in the last two weeks that we've become
bonded," Lewis said. "He's my partner."

They haven't been officially certified yet, which means Ben has to remain
in the police car, but already his presence has paid off.

"We've had three separate narcotics arrests in the past week, just having
him in the car," Lewis said. "Suspects are intimidated when they see him
and they confess having drugs, which we find in their car."

The officer and the dog plan to be certified as a K-9 unit today with CLEET
- -- Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training.

"Ben's definitely ready. He's a lot further along than I am. He knows what
he's doing."

Lewis, who lives in Moore, has been on the Tuttle force a year. He visited
police departments in Mustang, Newcastle and Lexington to see how they
acquired their dogs. He bought Ben from Matt Mixson, a dog trainer and also
undersheriff for Garvin County. The two partners have been taking some of
their training from Mixson on weekends. They also train two days a week at
Newcastle.

Right now Ben is a narcotics dog, but he's being trained for dual service
- -- to search buildings for narcotics and suspects -- and also to protect
Lewis. He has been trained to detect five different narcotics: cocaine,
heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine and hashish.

Lewis explained there are two types of narcotics dogs, passive and
aggressive. Ben is the passive type. When he finds dope, he puts his nose
down and sits. When the aggressive type finds dope, it starts scratching
furiously. Ben's type poses less liability for the city because he doesn't
tear things up, the officer said.

"The reason we got the dog," Lewis said, "is that Tuttle's population is
growing like mad. It covers 45 square miles. We expect traffic to double
with the opening of the new bridge in a couple of weeks that will connect
Tuttle with Mustang, which means a lot more traffic from Oklahoma City and
a lot more problems. An increase in crime is inevitable. More drugs mean
more crime. This gives another tool to fight crime."

Lewis said he presented the K-9 dog idea to the police chief, who OK'd it,
and then he presented it to the City Council as a no-cost proposal. The
council approved it, and Lewis went looking for donations. A local
veterinarian offered his services free, grocers donated food and other
merchants gave money.

Lewis, 24, doesn't get paid for the extra time he devotes to training with
Ben. He does his police duty at night and has a part-time day job. This is
his first full-time police job.
He is married and has a daughter, 16 months old.

"Ben is a friendly dog and plays with my family. We have another German
shepherd who is 2 1/2. They get along fine. But Ben really gets excited
when it's time to go to work, when he sees the patrol car."