Springdale police are eyeing a new member for the department — a police dog.
Borough council voted recently to create the Springdale Borough Police Department K-9 Association, a nonprofit which will be used to fund the program.
Several departments, including the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office, pay for police dog programs through nonprofit organizations, which raise money from the public or seek grants and private donations.
Police Chief Derek Dayoub said the department hasn’t yet selected a dog, but it will eventually be used for both narcotics detection and tracking missing persons and suspects.
The chief said the dog, likely to be a German shepherd or a Belgian Malinois, will also be used for community engagement.
“I think the time is right,” Dayoub said.
Two people, who Dayoub declined to name, approached the department to offer donations for the program’s creation, the chief said. He said they were a business person and an elected official.
Dayoub said the department had also applied for grants to fund the costs associated with the K-9 and its equipment, and Councilman Dan Copeland said the nonprofit would seek private sector donations.
At least part of the impetus for the police dog program comes from “recent security concerns,” according to Copeland, who serves as the borough’s public safety chair.
Copeland said the borough had lately been a “hot climate,” but Dayoub said no specific incidents had prompted the push for a dog.
No one has been assigned as K-9 handler yet, Dayoub said. The department would conduct internal interviews in the coming weeks and months, he said. At least one Springdale officer has previous experience as a K-9 officer, according to the chief.
Dayoub said he’s hoping to kick off the program early next year.
“They’re hitting the ground running with it,” Copeland said.
Springdale’s K-9 unit would join several more in the region including those at Allegheny Valley Regional, Tarentum, New Kensington and Lower Burrell police departments.
