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New K9 has nose for his workBy Barbara Brown Walking into the North Branch Police Department these days feels more like walking into many houses around town. Visitors and officers are greeted by the sounds of a barking dog ñ and that dog mostly wants to play but he can be serious when duty calls. Raven joined the North Branch police force in early December just in time to take training with Officer Scott Fitzgerald to build the cityís first K9 unit. Raven and Fitzgerald have been called out 11 times since starting work together just before Christmas. Locally, Raven and Fitzgerald helped Chisago County deputies find drugs in the house of a suspect who had been investigated in connection with several construction site burglaries over the past several months. The North Branch K9 team was asked to search the residence of Bruce Wayne Anderson after deputies had arrived there to serve a search warrant for tools and equipment taken in several burglaries. While they were at the house, Fitzgerald said Raven uncovered 11 grams of crack cocaine; comparable to about 6 sugar packets. Many of Ravenís other searches have been inside and outside vehicles stopped on traffic violations or suspicious activity. Fitzgerald said that both he and Raven are still in the training stages of drug detection and handling, but so far everything has gone well. He said Raven has proven himself a good family dog also. Raven lives with Fitzgerald and his family to improve their relationship even more. The dog is jumpy. Heís rambunctious and heís loving with a desire to be petted and sniff at new people. ìHe was rescued from the shelter in Ramsey County,î Fitzgerald said. ìThe training people look for dogs that have a lot of energy and like to play because that is their reward for finding drugs.î Raven is trained solely to sniff out drugs. So far he has been imprinted with methamphetamine, crack cocaine, cocaine and marijuana. When he is called out for a job and finds a drug, Raven scratches at the area and gets excited, which show Fitzgerald his alert that drugs are in the vicinity. Ravenís treat is a few minutes of play time with Fitzgerald. His reward now is a tennis ball attached to a rope. Fitzgerald said Raven loves the toy and shows his appreciation of play time. ìThere have been a few times when heís gotten it away from me,î Fitzgerald said. ìHeís taken it right out of my pocket.î While it takes Fitzgerald a little time to get Raven to sit or stay for any length of time, that obedience will come with practice, he said. ìThe obedience is important,î Fitzgerald said, ìbut right now itís important for Raven to have fun and enjoy the job so he does it well.î The program that introduced Raven and Fitzgerald is run by the Ramsey County Sheriffís Office. Police Chief Jules Zimmer asked the North Branch City Council in October to allow the department to send Fitzgerald for training and pay for the dog with the police forfeiture fund. ìOur department felt it was essential to have a drug K9 to address issues like the increased flow of methamphetamine and other drugs in the community,î Zimmer said. ìDrugs donít just stop at the borders of the city of North Branch,î he said. Zimmer said Ravenís detection of the drugs in the Stanchfield house is proof that the unit is invaluable. He said using Raven and Fitzgerald to assist other departments, including the Chisago and Pine county sheriffís offices can only serve to improve North Branchís protection. ìIf we do our part to help out another agency, it will only help North Branch,î Zimmer said. Fitzgerald and Raven often practice detection techniques with officers from Isanti and Pine County who took part in the Ramsey County training sessions at the same time Fitzgerald did. He said he believes the entire program ñ with estimated start-up costs of $3,000 with annual costs of about $1,000 ñ could be funded through the city police forfeiture fund. That fund is bolstered by confiscated vehicles, taken and sold after a drug arrest, a DWI arrest or other crimes like child endangerment, Zimmer said. He said the vehicles are auctioned with proceeds going to the local police department. A recent donation of $2,000 was made to the North Branch police department to pay for non-budget items and the departmentís total donation fund is at $2,227. Zimmer said the department is willing pay for the K9 unit and the supplies needed for it through its forfeiture fund as long as that fund could support it. Anyone interested in making a donation to support Raven or other non-budgeted police programs, call Chief Zimmer at (651) 674-8848. ©ECM Post Review |