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POLICE LOOK INTO DRUG DOG

The Commerce Police Department could be getting its own drug dog soon and the Commerce School District could be the first to use its services.

According Assistant Police Chief Steve Harrison, Commerce authorities have been looking at getting a drug dog for a while and they figured it could benefit CISD as well.

"For one thing, we're here," Harrison said.  "If they want us to come out and look at something, we're right here.  It's not going to cost them any more have us come out any more times."

At its meeting July 18, the Commerce ISD Board did approve going into contract negotiations with the city to use that drug dog if it is purchased.

Commerce ISD currently contracts with Southwest Drug Education for drug dog services, according to CISD Superintendent Keith Boles.  The district pays $11,000 a year for those services.

Harrison said the type of dog the department is looking for will cost between $8,000 and $10,000.

"It depends on what you're wanting in a dog, what kind of dog and different things you're looking for as far as the price," he said.  "I imagine that you can find some cheaper and I imagine you can find some a lot more expensive, but that's right around the range I've been looking at."

But even paying that much for a dog looked like it would benefit both the city and the school district.

"The amount we've been paying to contract out, they could actually purchase a dog," Boles said.  "In the following years, the cost to us would go down considerably.  So it would be a win-win for both parties."

Commerce ISD currently contracts for 30 hours per week for drug dog use.  The company conducts random searches at both Commerce High School and Commerce Middle School.

"We send the company a school calendar and we just mark the days we do not want them to come - such as school holidays, TAKS testing days, that type of thing," Boles said.  "From that point on it's random.  They don't tell us when they're coming, they just show up."

Harrison said the CPD would also like to use the dog to do drug awareness programs at the schools and show the students how a drug dog works.

"We'll also use it for our officers for interdiction and it will be a patrol dog, too," he said.

Final approval will rest with the Commerce City Council.  Getting the dog can take up to nine months.

"Once we get the go ahead from all parties involved, I will call a guy out of Oklahoma and put in an order for what we want," Harrison said.  "He will contact his people overseas and they will begin the process of looking for a canine that fits our specifications.

"It could take anywhere from a month to eight or nine months."

Harrison said the reason it takes so long is the company they are dealing with is very picky about the dogs they send out to their customers.

The dog will be assigned to one officer and will be used for many different jobs.

"He'll be out on Highway 50 and 224, some of the main thoroughfares going in and out of Commerce, working interdiction on those highways," Harrison said.  "At the same time, if officers need the dog to search a vehicle or something like that, he'll be used for that also."

The dog will also be used to track scents for missing persons, according to Harrison, and as a bite dog as well.

"He'll be trained to bite folks," he said.  "If they're attacking an officer or something like that, the officer can release the dog and he'll take the person down."

The officer and the dog will have to train together to learn to work as a team.

"The dog will know how to do it," Harrison said.  "We'll depend on the officer to get in there and practice with him and train him until they understand each other."

The dog will live with the officer and he will be responsible for it at all times.

"That's kind of how the bonding process goes," Harrison said.  "They can bond a lot better when you do that."