Not all police dogs are lean, mean German shepherds, as human K-9 officers found Friday when the five newest canine recruits arrived on St. Thomas. Along with two shepherds were two Belgian Malinoises and a yellow Labrador retriever.
The new recruits join two recent arrivals in a project undertaken and primarily funded by Randy Knight of Knight Quality Stations (WVWI, Kiss-FM and Jamz) with support from Peggy Creque of Community Motors and Andres Aportela, who operates a dog training center in New Jersey.
Aportela, who donated the retriever, named Max, is on St. Thomas to provide 10 days of orientation and training for the animal's new human partners. "We want the dogs and their partners to get to work as soon as possible," she told the V.I. Independent.
Knight has contributed about $34,500 toward the acquisition of five K-9's in recent months, according to the V.I. Daily News, and Creque donated about $5,000 as a dog adopter.
Now, for the first time in a long time, K-9 training officer Joe Glasford said, the St. Thomas-St. John unit has eight handlers and eight dogs.
As the new animals assume their duties, several current V.I. Police Department K-9s who have reached retirement age will be taken off active duty and retired to pet status with their partners.
