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Pocono News Section
Donations Might Bring Back Bloomsburg's K-9s
Donations Might Bring Back Bloomsburg's K-9s - Friday, January 9, 2009 at 4:09PM EST
Reported by: Kyla Campbell
Friday, Jan 9, 2009 @ 04:09pm EST
BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY -- Bloomsburg Police Chief Leo Sokoloski has fielded phone calls for the past 48 hours. Clearly, he says, people want to save the department's K-9 program after it was cut from this year's budget.
"We received a flurry of phone calls after your newscast," said Sokoloski. "Individuals have said they'd donate, whether it's $10 or $20. But we've had corporations call and offer $3,000."
People have been calling from all across Northeast and Central PA to offer money. Even a South Carolina man with ties to the area called in.
"He said he'd match any donations we receive," said Sokoloski.
Now, the police department, its union, and the mayor are figuring out the true costs of the entire K-9 program before the town council votes on accepting donations and keeping the program.
"We have to look beyond the cost of training them and paying their handlers," said Bloomsburg Mayor Dan Knorr. "We have to check on gas, vehicles, maintenance and things like that."
"They track suspects for us, search buildings for us for burglary suspects, and make apprehensions for fleeing suspects," said Sgt. Van Loan, who's had a dog as a partner for more than a decade. "Now, we won't have that advantage."
Van Loan and the other dog handler have adopted the three dogs from the K-9 unit. But he says the dogs are ready, willing, and trained to work.
"All three dogs have very high drive to work," said Van Loan. "If they don't get back to work soon, we have to give them another purpose so they don't go kind of crazy."
And there's a chance they'll get back to work if donations keep coming in. If you're interested in donating to keep the K-9 program going, you can call the police station at 784-6779.
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