Fort Atkinson City Council authorizes acquisition of K-9 officer

By Ryan Whisner 

The Fort Atkinson Police Department received authorization Thursday, April 6, from the Fort Atkinson City Council to pursue the acquisition of a new K-9 officer.

Funds for the purchase of the dog, related equipment, and training for the dog and handler are obtained through donations and fundraising, according to information shared by Fort Atkinson Police Chief Adrian Bump.  

Since 2015, the Fort Atkinson Police Department’s K-9 program has never needed or expended any taxpayer dollars to remain active, he said. 

From the start, Bump said, the program had a lot of support within the community.

“I would have to say that when ‘Bolt,’ or ‘Dino,’ was here, they were the favorite officer in the department,” the chief said. “It’s just the way it goes. The nice thing about our program, and this occurred from the beginning, is we started it with a grant and donations.”

The city’s first K-9 officer, Dino, was obtained in 2015.

“That was made possible by a grant and a lot of donations and community-supported fundraising,” Bump said. “It was the first dog in the history of our police department.”

Dino retired from service on Feb. 1, 2018, due to environmental limitations that had restricted his growth and development to a point where he could no longer perform his duties.

Purchased in February 2018, Bolt was the department’s second K-9 officer. Then 1-1/2 years old, Bolt was a purebred Belgium Malinois that was imported from the Czech Republic.

In May 2021, Bolt showed signs of health issues and was taken to UW Veterinary Care in Madison where he underwent emergency surgery that removed a foreign object causing a complete intestinal blockage.

Retiring from active duty as a K-9 officer, Bolt was trained and certified to serve as a companion for a retired Marine Corps veteran in Iowa.

For the past two years, the department has not had a K-9 unit.

“The program’s there, we have funding there, but we just haven’t had a new dog,” the chief said.

One of the reasons the department has not moved forward with the acquisition of a new dog before this was due to the numerous changes within the police department relating to several retirements and the hiring of new officers.

“When Bolt retired, we just didn’t have that next officer ready to take on that role for their own reasons and then just the number of new officers that weren’t really at the point where they had mastered their position as a patrol officer to take on a bigger role and bigger responsibility with a dog,” Bump said. “It can be a lot to take on if you haven’t mastered what you’re doing now.”

Meanwhile, he noted that the K-9 program account at the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation remained in good standing.

“We’ve always run off of donations, fundraising, and grants and that is my goal moving forward forever is to always have a program where we can do that,” Bump said. “I don’t see us in a position where we need to worry about ever having to budget any taxpayer money to keep this program active, to keep it going and still have plans for the future.”

The chief admitted that the dogs don’t last forever. Most agencies are hopeful to get 5 to 7 years out of a K-9 officer if they remain healthy.

“We are always fundraising, knowing that in the future, we can get another dog, and always have that special part of our agency, that part of the community, here,” he said.

Up to earlier this year, he did not feel they were in the right spot to move forward with a dog acquisition until a citizen recently came forward with a nice donation that allows the city to take the next step to return a dog to service in Fort Atkinson.

Currently, the fund at the foundation has approximately $35,000.

“We’ve kept that money knowing that as soon as we’re in a position where we can get moving again and get a dog back in the department and deployed in the community, we’re going to do that,” Bump said. “We just were not quite where we needed to be to have money in the account to purchase the dog, purchase the equipment and still be in a position where we won’t have to use tax dollar money until that donation came in.”

With unanimous approval of the council, the chief will be able to move forward with reserving the purchase of a dog and training from Jessiffany Canine Services LLC in Iron Ridge, Wis. In addition, the authorized expenditures of the donated funds included the fitting of a squad car for the K-9 unit by 10-33 Vehicle Services of Sullivan.

Bump said the new K-9 handler has not been selected. An internal process is being undertaken at the police department with letters of interest due by April 21 and interviews slated to be held in May.

“That will give us time for us to take that handler who is selected to the kennel with us so we can match that person with a dog where their personalities mesh,” Bump said.

Training is expected to be held in July and the handler and new K-9 officer should be on the road by mid-August.

As with the two previous K-9 units, the chief said the new dog would be a dual-purpose patrol dog, meaning the dog will have more than one expertise.

“The dogs that we have had, and the dogs that I want to maintain, or get in the future, would all be dual purpose,” Bump said.

On one hand, the dog is trained to search for narcotics. The chief said for most narcotic-trained dogs, it’s marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine. 

“Those are the main things that are important for us and the things that we really want to address in our community,” he said.

The other expertise or skill that the dogs have is search and tracking. 

“If someone walks away from a home, a child is lost in the woods, or a person runs from a police officer, that dog can pick up that scent trail and follow that to its endpoint,” Bump said, noting that the other part of tracking sometimes is the apprehension or handler protection.

The chief said the dogs can apprehend if ordered to do so and do a bite and hold to allow a suspect to be taken into custody. 

He emphasized that a bite and hold is not taken lightly, and the handler must follow all use of force guidelines before deploying the dog in that manner.

Most commonly, Bump said, the K-9 officer is used for area searches.

“That would be an area search where you have no idea where to begin,” he said. “A lot of times that’s great with a fleeing subject that if you get there late, or a missing person, someone walking away from maybe a community-based residential facility, or a child who goes missing out of the home, and we have no idea where to start. A dog can be used to do all those searches.”

The chief noted that a dog can pick up a scent, even three to five hours after an incident occurred. Similarly, the K-9 officer can be used for evidence location.

While all those skills are important parts of law enforcement, Bump said the most value of a K-9 officer comes from general community engagement.

“What we realize is that dogs can break down a lot of barriers between us and our community,” he said. “People love dogs, people love animals, and having a dog as part of your police department helps break down those barriers, helps people get excited about things that are going on in the police department and they want to be a part of that.”

Bump recalled when he first put together the presentation in 2015 to acquire the first dog, it was with pictures he found online of various K-9 units.

This year, the presentation was filled with images of Dino and Bolt engaging with the community.

“The whole community has really been a part of it,” the chief said.

Like Bolt, the new dog will come from Jessiffany Canine Services LLC., a kennel that specializes in police dogs and the purchase package includes the dog, four weeks of training with the

handler as well as continued maintenance training and dual certification rating through the kennel and American Police Canine Association.

The chief said Jessiffany was the preferred kennel due to proximity and because with Bolt, they were able to find a dog that fit their needs, meaning a dog that can perform the work and still be a dog that a young kid can walk up to and hug.

“Having a K-9, you always want to have access to your training kennel for contingency training, and just as a quick resource,” Bump said. “We put a lot of research into that kennel; we know that’s the right kennel for us and that’s why I’m coming forward with them as our dog provider.”

Also, he said, 10-33 Vehicle Services of Sullivan has been used as the department’s squad outfitter. Bump said the company has down all the installation of the squad cars and would take care of fitting a squad for the K-9 unit.

“That’s who we’ve always used, and we’ve never had any issues, so I want to continue doing that,” he said. 

The K-9 outfitted squad car is not specific to the handler and the K-9 officer, however, it would always be used to transport the dog.

“The dog works for the agency and is owned by the department, but is cared for by the handler 24/7,” the chief said. “It becomes his or her dog, family dog, work dog, and companion and is there on both sides of life.”

As for the use of the squad, it does not negatively impact the police department’s vehicle fleet.

“We just got the new car that we purchased this year, and in a perfect world, if we have no breakdowns and we get to next year, and we get another new vehicle or two, I will probably not get rid of two cars (but) only get rid of one to help ease that transition.” 

Ultimately, the K-9 squad is always available if needed. The cage for the dog takes up three-quarters of the backseat, leaving space for prisoner transport, Bump said.