PSD police to add K-9 program to department
School board approves purchase, training of two dogs from Arkansas academy
Polk School District will soon have its own K-9 program to assist its police department in locating illegal items on school property and provide an additional layer of safety for its students and faculty.
The purchase and training of two K-9 service dogs was recommended to the school board by Superintendent Dr. Katie Thomas at its January meeting and approved unanimously. The board had heard about potential safety concerns from Thomas, PSD Police Chief Michael McGee and Executive Director of Operations Todd Tillery during a board retreat in December.
“We’re having to think outside the box. We’re having to address issues that I can promise you, when I was going through my training, we never had any of these topics of discussion in our education classes because they weren’t topics of concern then, but they very much are now,” Thomas said.
The initial cost of the dogs and training is $11,450 per dog, or a total of $22,900, with one dog and handler located on each side of the county.
McGee said the addition of K-9s not only will help locate items that are not allowed on school property but will serve as a deterrent for those who try to hide things that are not allowed, such as drugs, weapons and vapes.
Thomas told the school board that vaping is one of the biggest problems they have to deal with in schools.
“Just having the extra resource to help the district combat some of the things we have the most issues with will be tremendous help,” McGee said.
The single-purpose K-9s will be utilized for detection, search and rescue. The dogs, whose breed has yet to be determined, will be able to detect and locate evidence or articles as well detect odors of nicotine, firearms, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, ecstasy, and track and locate missing or wanted people.
The school board approved Little Rock K-9 Academy in Arkansas for the purchase of the
two service dogs as well as the training for the handlers, which is scheduled for March. McGee said they will have an assessment to determine which officers will be selected as handlers.
Once the K-9 handlers are trained and certified they will immediately be placed into service.
“Being able to have a K-9 program within our department and school district is absolutely great. We are very fortunate to have such a school board and superintendent who continue to support the police department. Not only do they support the police department, they are very passionate for the students and staff. Safety is the number one thing,” McGee said.
The Polk School District Police Department includes a total of 14 officers, two of whom are Cedartown Police officers. There is one dedicated police officer assigned to each school in the system along with a lieutenant assigned as supervisors for each side of the county.