Columbia police to get new dog

Private donors provided funding for the new police dog and the training process.

By Lindsay Eanet

Published Oct. 5, 2007

After the Columbia Police Department retired one of its patrol dogs for medical reasons, it plans to welcome a new, four-legged furry member to the police force. With the assistance of private donors, a third dog will be added to the department's K-9 unit.

"It's been a working dog for about seven or eight years," Columbia Police Department Chief Randy Boehm said about the retired dog. "It came down with some specific hip issues and was unable to perform. So this is a replacement canine."

Boehm said the total cost of replacing the police dog would be $11,500, including the eight-week training program.

Once trained, the dog will serve several purposes while out on patrol, including drug detection and building searches.

Since one of its main functions will be drug detection, the dog's training will consist of learning the different smells and teaching the dog to alert the smells associated with narcotics, Boehm said.

Additionally, the new dog will be used to conduct building searches.

"The most common is that we receive a burglar alarm or report of someone in a residence or a building, and the officers can announce their presence and ask the suspects to come out and announce that they're releasing the dog," Boehm said. "The dogs are taught to, again by smell, alert to a person's presence."

When fully staffed, the Columbia Police Department has three dogs in its K-9 unit. Two are on active patrol, and one is used in the narcotics unit.

Boehm said the Columbia Police Department uses the dogs frequently.

"They're out on patrol on a regular basis, so they're used almost daily," he said.

Columbia residents Jim and Billie Silvey provided the funding to purchase the dog. During the Oct. 1 meeting of the Columbia City Council, the use of gift funding from Jim and Billie Silvey was approved, according to the meeting's agenda.

Their contribution paid for both the dog and training in their entireties, and the donation was made specifically for the dog.

"We did not ask for any funding from the City Council for this dog," Boehm said. "We knew that we had a private donor, and that's how we approached the City Council."

Jim Silvey, along with his wife, has maintained a close relationship with the department and not only donated the new police dog, but also originally donated the dog that it is replacing.

"We've been supporters of the police department for many years, and we've had a good relationship with Chief Boehm for many years," Jim Silvey said. "This is the third dog we will have donated. We have donated two others, and one of the ones that we donated had to be retired because of health reasons, and Boehm told us that it would have to be replaced, so we decided to make the donation."

In addition to the three police dogs, the Silveys have made several other contributions to the Columbia Police Department, including funding for a motorcycle, a Chevrolet van for transportation and money for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.