Village trustees have voted to spend about $55,000 in drug-seizure funds to establish a K-9 unit in the Police Department.
“A trained dog would be an asset to the department in many areas,” Deputy Police Chief Tom Herion told the Village Board this week. “We could use it for public relations, narcotics cases, building searches, tracking suspects and searching for missing children.”
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The village will pay $8,000 to Vohn Liche Kennels in Denver, Ind., for a trained dog. The dog will live with its partner as a pet for two weeks, after which the unit will return to Vohn Liche Kennels for a five-week training course. Lodging, transportation and the officer’s salary will bring the cost of that training to about $6,000.
The biggest expense will be $35,000 for a K-9 squad car equipped with internal thermostats to keep it from overheating while the dog is inside and with remote controls enabling the officer to release the dog without being next to the car. Food and veterinary bills will add $1,500 a year to the K-9 budget, Herion said.
Bensenville has borrowed K-9 units from other towns at least 30 times in the last five years, Herion told trustees. Having their own unit will enable police to act more quickly to catch drug dealers, find suspects and rescue children. He said that more drug-related arrests will increase the amount of money and property the village can seize under zero-tolerance drug laws. The village has about $140,000 in seizure funds, which it can use only to fund law-enforcement programs.