Ivins • A few months into an effort to help a Southern Utah police department raise the funds needed to replace a recently retired police dog, community residents were in a bind.
Police K-9s and the specialized training they need don’t come cheap, and the group was still thousands of dollars short of meeting their goal.
Michael Cook, a member of the community group that spearheaded the endeavor in behalf of the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department, was helping operate a fundraising booth at Ivins Heritage Days in September when a man walked up with a checkbook and asked him how he was doing. “Pretty good,” Cook responded.
“‘Well,’” he recalls the man telling him, “you are about to be doing better.”
Cook thought, “Great, we are going to get $500 or some donation like that,” he said. “But the guy wrote out a check for more than $25,000, and I was awestruck.”
Beyond the veil
Turns out, the man was the executor of a six-figure estate whose now-deceased owner directed him to do good by donating the remainder of her fortune to worthwhile causes. Both the executor and the woman donor wish to remain anonymous.
Cook, however, subsequently learned the woman was an immigrant whose family fled to escape persecution years ago in a war-torn country, the identity of which is not being disclosed to protect her anonymity.
“The family had to split up and take nothing with them to avoid the appearance of fleeing the country,” Cook said. “The [donor], who was a child at the time, walked hundreds of miles and crossed the border into another country to reunite with her family before emigrating to the United States, where she arrived with nothing.
“But our donor,” he continued, “obviously led a productive life and contributed much to society – so much so, the donor’s representative told me, that he was directed to donate a substantial portion of the estate to do good after the benefactor’s passing.”
That donation, which paid for roughly two-thirds of the cost of purchasing and training the new K-9 officer, combined with scores of smaller contributions from the community enabled members of Defenders of Greater Ivins, or DOGI, to present the municipal leaders and department officials with a check for $40,105 in October.
By that time, assured the money was coming, police representatives had already gone to Vohne Liche Kennels in Southern California and picked Rosko from the newly arrived Belgian Malinois dogs from Europe, which typically cost between $9,000 and $12,000 apiece.
Rosko’s mission, one he not only seemingly accepts but embraces, is to stem the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs along I-15 and old Highway 91 and track down and apprehend criminal suspects. For now, the rookie police dog is bonding with his handler, Officer Jesse Hall, getting accustomed to his surroundings, and undergoing rigorous training with several other police dogs in Washington County before hitting the streets.
Rosko is already a hit with the locals he meets. He also enjoys some R&R during his off-duty hours, lounging around on the lawn chairs in Hall’s backyard and playing with toys, the latter a reward he earns from hard work.
“He and Rosko have bonded so fast, and the dog is already the officer’s little buddy that always wants to be by his side,” said Jessica Bate, who oversees the department’s K-9 and patrol programs. “He is calm and fine around people, but when he is working he is super-attentive and driven … and focused.”
Despite his youth and inexperience, police officials are confident Rosko will quickly grow into the role as the department’s top and sole police dog. That’s important because the rookie is replacing K-9 Copper, a 9-year-old chocolate lab that recently retired to live with Todd O’Bray, her first handler who now works for the Hurricane Police Department.
Big paws to fill
(Michael Cook) Santa Clara-Ivins police officer Jesse Hall with K-9 Rosco.
In addition to paying for Rosko, the remainder of DOGI’s donation is being used to pay for training and for a new Chevy Tahoe vehicle specially equipped for K-9 police dogs.
Rosko’s drug-detection training ended Dec. 4 and his apprehension training is slated for completion in March, according to Bate. Among other things, Bate added, the truck sports a device that automatically opens windows or even a door to release the dog to its handler if it gets too hot inside the vehicle.
Once Rosko starts his drug-detection duties later this month, he will have big shoes – er, paws – to fill. Copper, police officials attest, assisted on about 400 calls during her career that resulted in roughly 200 arrests.
“A 50% arrest rate is pretty phenomenal,” Cook said.
Rosko, of course, will be asked to do even more than Copper, adding pursuit to his drug-detecting chores. Police officials have no doubt that he will be up to the job.
Introduced in the U.S. about 1911 to work as K-9s for the New York Police Department, Belgian Malinois have gained in popularity ever since and are now used by police agencies and the military throughout the nation. One Belgian Malinois named “Cairo,” for example, even took part during the siege of terrorist Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan in 2011.
Adding to their allure for law enforcement officials is the fact that the dogs have a terrific work ethic and are a bit smaller and faster than German shepherds. Dog experts say the breed is a perfect blend of stamina, strength and agility that makes it invaluable in police and related fields.
Of course, police officials acknowledge Rosko’s purchase would not have happened as soon as it did without the community’s support. For his part, Cook doesn’t disagree.
“When you think about the response by a [small community] to put this kind of money together,” he said, “it is just phenomenal. That money is likely going to support Rosko through the length of his service.”
