Through strong and consistent efforts by Lieutenant Ron Carter, the Cadiz Police Department officially has a new K9 officer on staff. The Belgian Malinois, Lupo, came from the Netherlands but was trained at Storm Dog Tactical, which is based in Sunburry Ohio. “I pushed for this in the beginning of 2023,” Carter said. “We got the grant in January. I started off at another K9 place and I wasn’t happy with the dog. I knew (the owner of Storm Dog Tactical), he did a lot of training with me a long time ago… When I got a hold of him, I put everything on hold and waited for his class to become available. Storm Dog is top-notch. Hands down the best K9 training.” Carter has over a decade of experience with K9 handling, which is a good thing because he was told Lupo needed someone who wasn’t new to police dogs. K9s have been used by police forces for over a century, with the first training facility being opened in 1899. Now, dogs are trained for all kinds of uses. Lupo is certified in narcotics, tracking, searches, and much more. A huge focus is, of course, on finding illegal drugs. “It’s 2023, we’re in a drug pandemic,” Carter said. “How do you get into vehicles without a canine? Someone has narcotics in their car, most of the time they’re not going to let you search it.” He said this was a main factor in getting the dog after a particular traffic stop. Carter told the chief of police that if they wanted to get ahead of drugs entering their community, they needed a dog. Without the help of two sponsors and one grant, the dog would not yet be a reality for Cadiz. MPLX donated about $10,000 and Encino Energy donated just over $12,000. Between them and the $7,500 from the USPCA AKC Reunite K9 Grant, Lupo was able to join Cadiz without the village spending a single dime of taxpayer money. This money covered the cost of the dog, training, and paid for the necessary cruiser changes such as adding a partition to the back seat, allowing prisoners to still be transported in the unit. In addition to not spending any village funds to get the dog, Purina is covering all food costs for the lifetime of Lupo and Carter is reaching out to veterinarians in the area to get reduced cost care, otherwise, medical costs for Lupo will come out of any leftover K9 funding. Carter hopes to do fundraisers in the future to start work on getting a second dog for the department. Lupo has already been active on the streets of Cadiz, helping with various cases. A reminder to the public is that Lupo, while adorable, is a working dog. He is trained to assess threats to both Carter and himself. Because of this, please do not approach Lupo without Carter’s permission. Always get the handler’s attention before making any move toward a working dog. “It’s a win-win for the village,” Carter said. “You’re getting a free officer that you don’t have to pay, that can track down narcotics, track suspects, clear buildings faster than we can, and of course increase officer safety. The safety factor alone is second to none. You’re going to see us being very active. The public is going to see the dog out working.”
