Two retiring K-9s to be honored at council meeting

Two retiring K-9s with the Porterville Police Department will be honored at the Porterville City Council’s next meeting.

A special presentation will be held at the beginning of the open session of Tuesday’s meeting at 6:30 p.m. to hnonor “Jace” and “Jasper.” Jace, one of the police department’s service dogs, was retired on April 5.

Jace worked as a police service dogs for more than eight years for both the Porterville and Farmersville Police Departments. The council approved the sale of Jace for $1 to his handler, Porterville Police Officer Darrell Locke.

Now the council is set to take similar action with “Jasper” and also to take action to replace the two service dogs at Tuesday’s meeting as part of its consent calendar. The Police Department is now working with two police service dogs, leaving the department’s patrol shifts without an on-duty service dog. And one of those current service dogs, “Jasper,” is retiring.

Jasper is almost 8 and has reached the standard work-life expectancy for a service dog. As with Jace, Jasper is also experience minor health issues and it’s not in the best interest for the department or Jasper to continue to work as a service dog.

Jasper’s handler is Porterville Police Officer Anthony Holt. The council will consider selling Jasper to Holt also for $1. Holt has a vast amount of experience in handling police service dogs.

In March a third vacancy in the police department’s K-9 unit was created when one of the department’s K-9 handlers left to work for another law enforcement agency. Porterville Police K-9 “Neith” has been kenneled at Top Dog Training Center and is waiting for a new handler to be selected.

Top Dog Training Center is the police department’s vendor that supplies and trains its service dogs and is the only police service dog kennel in Tulare County. Top Dog Training Center supplies police service dogs throughout the state, including most agencies in Tulare County, and at a much lower cost than providers located outside of the area, city staff report.

The police department’s police service dog specialists recently visited Top Dog Training Center to find two new police service dogs. With the addition of the two new K-9’s, and “Neith,” the Department will have all four of its canine teams in service.

As part of its consent calendar the council is set to approve the purchase of the service dogs and training for their handlers at a cost of $28,500. The purchase will be funded by the police department’s donation account.