The Stuart Police Department has had its K9 program for roughly a month and a half and they have seen good results. 

Police Chief David Reha says K9 Ally and the handler Officer Daniel Irving went through a period of spending time together but since then they have been very productive. 

“We’ve had multiple situations where the dog has found drugs and it’s led to arrest and charges. There’s been situations where we’ve been able to utilize her for her tracking abilities. So if we’re trying to track a suspect that’s maybe left the scene, that dog can (track them). It’s pretty, pretty cool what they can do. But I mean, that dog can kind of connect with that scent and just follow it wherever it goes.”

Reha says before Ally they would have to wait 45 minutes to one hour for Guthrie or Dallas County Sheriff’s Offices’  K9 Unit to show up. He explains they received money for the unit from the Adair County Foundation Grant and part of the agreement was to use the K9 to help Adair County when needed. 

“You know, just because maybe there’s an incident in Greenfield or an incident on the interstate that that officer gets called out to assist on, those drugs could be heading here. And so, it’s just as important for us to help the surrounding communities as it is to help our own community if we’re really going to fight that problem.

Reha says that the hardest part is the start-up cost for the K9 Unit but sees the program as sustainable for the foreseeable future.