Columbus Police Department getting a new furry member of the force

COLUMBUS, Neb.— Soon a new member of the police department will be in Columbus, though this one will have four legs.

The new furry officer isn’t yet in Columbus, but the handler Ryan Otten will have him soon before training begins on March 31st.

“So we will probably get the dog sometime in March a week or two before that, and then, I believe it's a 12 week training, so that gets you into the middle of the summer, someplace that we'll have that dog ready to perform,” Chief Bret Strecker said.

This addition to the team means that officers will not only be safer but will have an added advantage.

“There's a lot of benefits. One of them is, obviously, for drug detection, the dog will be able to sniff and alert on any type of drug possession,” Strecker said. “It'll be a dual purpose dog, and the dog will also have the ability to bring people down out of situations that would normally put our officers in danger.”

Situations like this do cause harm to the person, though it will keep the officer safe and avoid addition harmful measures.

Otten was selected for the handler after an interview process with Strecker, which is a decision he feels confident in, even with the risks bringing in a K-9 has.

“A dog is still a dog, and so you have to make sure that you keep that dog under control at all times. So there's some risk involved, and we want to make sure that we use the dog with accordingly, and I have all the faith in the world and Officer Otten that he will do that,” Strecker said.

The K-9 will go home with Otten after every shift and live exclusively with him. Additional training happens every week to keep the dog vigilant.