EDINBURGH, Ind — A new addition is coming soon to the Edinburgh Police Department. The town is getting a police K-9 officer in the coming months. This will be Edinburgh’s first police dog since the 1980s.
In May, Edinburgh Police Chief Doyne Little convinced the town council to re-establish the department’s K-9 program to help fight drug crime, which has increased in the area. Since 2020, the town has booked more than 200 arrests for methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and marijuana.
“Just a guess, I'd say 30% of the people that we stop that we believe could possibly have something, we can't get a canine down here, unfortunately, because of time,” Chief Little said. “We usually use Johnson County and Bartholomew County because they are the closest.”
And if you don’t think a small town like Edinburgh needs its own K-9 officer, Chief Little said to think again.
“Last year, I did a traffic stop, and I was lucky enough to have a canine here from Johnson County Sheriff's Department,” Little said. “We recovered 200 grams of methamphetamine. That's a large amount for any town.”
And that drug bust would not have happened if that Johnson County K-9 officer wasn’t nearby.
“Just lucky that they were in the southeast part of the county,” Little said.
In the past, the Edinburgh Police Department has had to borrow K-9’s from surrounding towns, which could sometimes turn into a race against time.
“We only have the reasonable time to complete that traffic stop to get a canine here,” Little said. “So, for instance, if I stopped you as a person and I believe there's narcotics in the car, I have to call for that dog immediately and get him there by the time that I'm done writing that traffic ticket. If not, then I can't hold you any longer. If we call for canine, and the dog gets there and does a “free air sniff,” which is walking around the car, once I'm done with that ticket, if the dog’s already done their free air sniff and gives a positive indication of narcotics, then the clock is off. We now have probable cause to search the car,” Little explained.
Edinburgh needed $25,000 in donations to be able to afford a police dog. Since May, they have received $26,800 in donations from as far away as Anderson, Indiana. Chief Little said he’s been overwhelmed by the positive response.
The new K-9 officer should make its debut in Edinburgh by the fall.