Bomb threat evacuates school, after county retires K-9s: Chief deputy says dogs cost too much

[Ian David]

Bomb threat evacuates school, after county retires K-9s: Chief deputy says dogs cost too much, were hardly utilized

Oct 16, 2008 (The Register-Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- RGI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Beckley's Park Middle School was evacuated Wednesday for a bomb threat, authorities said, but the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department's bomb-sniffing dog often utilized in such emergencies was not at their disposal.

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Students and staff were moved to the football field before police arrived, Reynolds said. Since the sheriff's office no longer has a bomb-sniffing dog, Reynolds called the State Police and was told troopers may not be able to get a dog to the scene. The next option was calling authorities in Fayette County.

Apparently, State Police Cpl. A.D. Palmateer, who handles a bomb-sniffing dog, heard what was happening and came to the scene with his Belgian Malinois, Rock, Reynolds said. Palmateer did a thorough and "impressive" search, but Rock did not indicate explosives were present.

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Costs for maintaining a K-9 unit are extremely high, Tanner said, and the department's number of calls severely limited the amount of work the dogs could do. By law, K-9 officers must receive a half hour of overtime per day. Then there is tens of thousands of dollars spent on special vehicles -- with poor fuel economy -- equipment and training.

On top of that, the 911 call load was too high and manpower was too low for the K-9 officers to do much work with their dogs, Tanner said. Instead, they were having to answer constant routine calls. Success was limited.

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