Sheriff's Dept. purchases K-9 with seized drug money

NEWTON — There is a new arrival in the Sussex County Sheriff's Office K-9 unit.

This newest member of the Sheriff’s Office is not only capable of running at speeds upwards of 30 mph, he can scale a seven foot fence in seconds flat, and smell drugs secreted in hidden compartments that would be otherwise impossible to detect. He does, however, shed a great deal more hair than a typical sheriff’s officer.

K-9 “Kilo” is a black and tan colored, German Shepherd dog. At just 17 months old, he is the youngest of the four dogs that currently compose the Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit. Kilo was born in Hungary and transported to the United States by a K-9 vendor who, in turn, sold him to the Sheriff’s Office.

Kilo was purchased using money from the Asset Forfeiture Fund, which is maintained by the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office. Sussex County Prosecutor David Weaver authorized the expenditure from the fund which is composed, almost exclusively, of money seized during narcotics investigations. The cost of purchasing Kilo was therefore borne from narcotics traffickers similar to those that Kilo will ultimately be trained to locate and apprehend.

Both Sheriff Michael Strada and Prosecutor, reflected on the irony of obtaining a narcotics detection canine with funds taken predominantly from narcotics traffickers.

Kilo will be trained in patrol work duties such as criminal apprehension, handler protection, evidence recovery, general obedience, and human tracking. Additionally, he will be trained in narcotics detection. He is scheduled to begin training on June 1.