A 28-hour radio-thon hosted by 94.1 WJJO’s morning show personalities Johnny and Greg came to a close Friday morning, after raising funds to add two new canines to the Madison Police Department’s patrol K-9 unit.
The radio-thon ran from Thursday, March 31 at 6 a.m. to Friday, April 1 at 10 a.m. to help Capital K-9 raise funds for the trained dogs, which cost $13,000 each, according to Capital K-9’s President Boris Frank.
MPD Officer Jim Donnell, who works in the K-9 patrol unit, said the department was able to purchase the dogs, named Johnny and Greg after the hosts of the fundraiser. Johnny, a Belgian Malinois, and Greg, a Dutch Shepherd, were both purchased from the Netherlands to work with the K-9 unit.
According to the MPD’s Public Information Officer Mike Hanson, the need for the dogs came about because the department’s narcotics dog Arno is retiring.
“A city our size really needs canines,” Hanson said. “The patrol and the department [are] really excited to have the canines. It’s just one more resource for us to have to remain safe.”
Hanson added canines help police officers do their job by leading them to individuals that are either missing or wanted for committing a crime.
“They’re so much more efficient with their ability to track individuals,” Hanson said. “They use their senses to find a person.”
Donnell stressed the importance of the canines in helping the MPD remain safe in dangerous situations. He said both Johnny and Greg are multi-purpose dogs trained to find evidence and search for suspects.
“They have the potential to save someone’s life,” Donnell said. “Ninety percent of their work is based on scent training. The ability of their scent is incredible.”
Hanson said he agreed the safety of officers is enhanced when they enter a crime scene with a canine. The dogs usually know if a suspect is hiding and about to jump out with a gun, while people aren’t able to sense that, he added.
The most rewarding thing about working with the dogs, according to Donnell, is getting them out on the streets to keep both citizens and officers safe.
Donnell said the dogs are usually trained when they are three months old and are purchased once they reach their full ability. Officers in the K-9 patrol unit attend a four-week training program to learn how to work with the dogs. The officers train with the dogs to see how they might act in certain situations, he added.
“It was really the dogs training us,” Donnell said.
According to Donnell, the K-9 patrol unit plans on adding to their canine force as more money is raised. Most departments the size of Madison have seven canines, according to Donnell, and the MPD is working to reach that number.
“We’re in the infancy stage,” Donnell said.
Capital K-9 is a non-profit organization formed to help the MPD create a K-9 patrol unit. The organization is made up of volunteers in the community interested in increasing the number of canines to enhance the safety of police officers, according to their website.
