There is a new officer on the force in Scott City, and she goes by Raina.
Raina is a Malinois K9 officer in training - the only in the Scott City police department, according to police chief Mike Culler - who is currently being prepped to sniff out drugs and track criminals.
“Scott City has needed a K9 to search for narcotics and to help in assisting the tracking of people for many years,” Culler says. “Earlier this year we made a push to start looking into acquiring one.”
Getting Raina for the department, Culler says, has been a “surprisingly” smooth process, despite several cost hurdles.
“[Training] is really a thorough and grilling process for the dog,” Sergeant Brooks Brockmire says. He formerly worked for Scott County as a K9 handler, but has transferred back to the city, giving them the option to pursue the acquisition of a K9.
“Basically there’s a really, really tedious selection process,” he says. “They look for different characteristics in different dogs for obviously different purposes.”
In the next three weeks, Brockmire says he’ll continue the K9 training process, and “shortly thereafter we’ll be available on the streets.”
“And you can’t beat the de-escalation factor of a K9,” Culler says. “Introducing a K9 to a situation can often bring compliance out of a suspect that otherwise would have taken a more physical approach to the officers that responded to a situation.”
He says he thinks Raina will be great for public relations as well, and opportunities might arise to have her at community events and skills.
Although the department was able to pay the initial price for Raina at a low cost to taxpayers, Culler says there are still costs they're trying to cover through fundraising efforts. To help sustain the program, the department is holding a spaghetti dinner at the Front Porch Rental Hall at 1408 Main Street in Scott City Wednesday, August 21 from 4-7 p.m.