The Camden County Sheriff’s Office is working in conjunction with the Camden County K9 Association in asking for donations to help fund the training of a new narcotics detection dog and a handler. The Camden County K9 Association is made up of sheriff’s office K9 handlers and supporters who raise funds to help maintain police service dogs. We have been requesting assistance from narcotics detection K9 teams from Osage Beach Police Department, Lake Area Narcotics Enforcement Group and Camdenton Police Department when they are available, but we need our own dog and have been without one since the spring of 2015 when our last narcotics dog was retired.

The sheriff’s office is planning to adopt a dog from Universal K-9 in San Antonio, Texas at no cost to the agency for the purchase of the dog. Universal K-9 adopts dogs from shelters, who may otherwise be put down, and trains the dogs to work in police work.

The program solves multiple problems; it saves a dog from possibly being put down, helps law enforcement conduct their duties, and saves tax payers money. Some narcotics detection dogs cost between $12,000 and $15,000 or more. Universal K9 is the only non-profit organization that offers an unlimited amount of dogs, at no cost, to any law enforcement agency. Your donation will help pay for the training of the dog and the deputy to work as a team to help put a dent in the drug problem in Camden County.

Our primary use of the dog will be to conduct searches at some of our outlying schools and we intend to work closely with those schools on this project. The dog will be used as an educational tool for those schools’ students by doing demonstrations while their handler is putting on drug abuse awareness classes. The dog can also be used to assist the patrol division or other agencies when requested.

We want to be clear that we are not asking for donations to buy a dog because the dog is free to the agency. We are looking for donations to fund the training of the dog and its handler. The cost of this training including lodging and travel will be approximately $6500.00.

Contact Sergeant Scott Hines at 573-346-2243 x 4425 for more information on how to help fund this project or check out our Go Fund Me K9 page.