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Buena Vista's New Drug-Sniffing Dog

The Buena Vista Police Department has a brand new $46,000 drug dog. That may seem like a lot of money for a single animal, particularly for a town undergoing serious financial strain. WMRA's Jessie Knadler went to Buena Vista to meet the newest member of the force.

Sergeant Mitchell Harrison has been a cop in Buena Vista for 15 years. And he really loves dogs.

SERGEANT MITCHELL HARRISON: We thought it would help the community and the surrounding area.  It was something I’ve wanted for a long time. I’ve wanted to be a K-9 officer for some time. The opportunity came up and I took it.

The opportunity he refers to is grant money from the Virginia Attorney General’s office that became available as a result of a multi million dollar Medicaid fraud settlement in 2012. Local police departments were invited to apply for some of the money to fund such things as new bulletproof vests, cop cars and, in the case of the BVPD, a new drug dog. The department received a check from the state for $46,000 in April.

Why so much? Well, a four-legged drug sniffer isn’t cheap. The dog itself cost $10,000.

HARRISON:      It’s $9,940 to be exact. The K-9 is coming from Tarheel Canine out of Sand Hill, North Carolina.….he’s got capability. He can do search and rescue, as well as narcotics and things. That sounds like a lot of money but that cost involves the handler school.

That’s another $10,000.

HARRISON:      Plus housing and equipment—harnesses, leashes.

Vet bills, food, chew toys—it adds up. The backseat of Sgt. Harrison’s squad car had to be torn out and turned into some sort of caged, robo-K-9 insert.

Sgt. Harrison took me and another reporter out for a demo of the dog’s skills.

HARRISON:      What I’m going to do is give him a command to search for human odor. So what I’ll do first is just let him free search. I’m really not doing anything just letting him smell.

Bady – that’s his name -- is an imposing looking animal. He’s a three year old German Shepherd who weighs 90 pounds. He was born in Slovakia and only responds to Czech commands. He’s trained on four scents: Methamphetamines, heroin, cocaine and marijuana. He can detect a lot of other odors too—bullet shell casings, anything a human has touched.

When he finds something – in this case, a tube of Chap Stick I had tossed into a field – he lays down suddenly, passive and quiet. This was intentional. Some drug dogs are trained to react aggressively—scratching and pawing—but Sgt. Harrison wanted a more subdued approach because it’s much less scary for the unsuspecting public.

HARRISON:  People think, "Oh, he’s looking for drugs. They feed him drugs." They don’t. They teach him the odor. When he smells that odor he thinks, Hey, there’s my cone ball. There’s my chew toy.  He doesn’t know that what he’s smelling is cocaine, meth, marijuana.

The idea is that Bady will be one more tool local and state police can use as part of a joint effort to fight the spread of drugs. Rockbridge County Sherriff’s Department already has two K-9s. Methanphetamine use, in particular, is a growing concern in the County, with more mini meth labs showing up in vehicles.

Bady comes at an interesting time for the Buena Vista Police Department. The town is undergoing serious financial strain as a result of a defaulted loan on an unsuccessful golf course for which the city offered up key properties -- including the police department -- as collateral.

The department has been in a state of flux for some time. Officers have left. Morale hasn’t exactly been sky high. It’s uncertain whether the sixteen man force will even stay in the same building if the lender decides to foreclose on the property. The city very recently hired new police chief Keith Hartman, a 23-year veteran of Newport News Police, who commanded a force of 80, to come in and turn things around.

POLICE CHIEF KEITH HARTMAN:  I’m very impressed with the professionalism of the officers. We are short a few bodies that we’re trying to replace as quickly as we can. And I think once we get the staffing up we’ll be in pretty good shape…. Days off are hard to come by here right at the moment.

His first order of business: Become a state-accredited agency, which he feels will give the department a renewed air of professionalism. 

Regarding Sgt. Harrison’s K-9 initiative, Chief Hartman is totally on board.

HARTMAN:      A K-9 unit is a really good tool for a police agency to have and for other police agencies in the area to share that asset.  It’s a good PR tool too. I’ve heard that the stories that make the best news are kids and animals. So we’ll be taking the dog to the schools and community programs and public events and things like that.  I’m just excited to be here. Looking forward this challenge. Hopefully we’re successful.

Jessie Knadler is the editor and co-founder of Shen Valley Magazine, a quarterly print publication that highlights the entrepreneurial energy of the Shenandoah Valley. She has been reporting off and on for WMRA, and occasionally for National Public Radio, since 2015. Her articles and reporting have appeared everywhere from The Wall Street Journal to Real Simple to The Daily Beast. She is the author of two books, including Rurally Screwed (Berkley), inspired by her popular personal blog of the same name, which she wrote for six years. In her spare time, she teaches Pilates reformer, and is the owner of the equipment-based Pilates studio Speakeasy Pilates in Lexington. She is mom to two incredible daughters, June and Katie. IG: @shenvalleymag