Menu
CPD’s K9 Chewy off duty until issues resolved
CLOVERDALE -- After Clerk-Treasurer Cheryl Galloway announced last month that the K9 donation fund was in the red, other issues regarding the Cloverdale Police Department’s K9 officer Chewy surfaced at the Cloverdale Town Council’s regular May meeting that resulted in the dog’s being put on leave.
“There are more issues there than meets the eye,” safety board advisor Phil Parker said. “There are several things going on with Chewy.”
In addition to being uninsured due to funding issues, there are legal and practical issues related to the dog’s use so far.
“We’ve had an incident where Chewy actually bit his handler,” Parker said. “There was another incident in the school, where Chewy became very aggressive with a school official during an off-leash search. We have financial issues to work out, we have training issues to work out, we have documentation issues to work out.”
Town Marshal Steve Hibler added, “One of the other concerns we’ve got is where the dog’s been applied in the past. Eighty-seven percent of the dog’s use has not been in Cloverdale. A lot of these extra things are taking an officer out of our town. We’ve got to be practical in the fact that there’s three of us and we have to cover the town as our first responsibility.”
Parker also said there has been no documentation of how Chewy serves Cloverdale (how many drugs he’s seized, etc.).
“In everything we do here, we’re trying to be practical of what we do; the cars we buy, what equipment we buy, and how we utilize that equipment,” Parker said. “For whatever reason, this particular part of the police department’s capability has been viewed more with emotion than it has practicality. Let us never forget that Chewy is a tool for this police agency to better serve its citizens. We’re doing these things to show the town what their investment brings them. I want to see what the return on investment has been in terms of bad guys going to jail and drugs off the street.”
With the audience’s involvement, the discussion eventually became tense until President Coweta Patton suggested tabling it.
“There are issues here, some of which are legal issues, that really are inappropriate for public discussion at this point,” attorney Allan Yackey said. “So since you can’t discuss the entire topic, my suggestion is until everything here has been adequately researched, that this discussion be put on hold.
“Understand that if that dog is deployed, and a citizen ends up being injured, there’s going to be a lawyer come down, and a lawyer is going to dig through all of this stuff and we’ll spend a lot of time in court, with lawyers on both sides, sometimes two or three of them, so at the moment it’s far better to have the dog being taken care of. There can be no legal risk with the dog not being out there until all of this is fully researched.”
No definite time was given for the K9’s return.
In other news related to CPD, Town Marshal Steve Hibler reported that 14 arrests have been made since the last regular meeting.
Twenty-seven case reports have been filed, the majority being theft at five cases (top case last month, but down one case since then), habitual traffic violators etc. at four cases and three cases of juvenile delinquency. CPD also served five warrants and seized small amounts of methamphetamine, marijuana and spice (synthetic marijuana).
Since Feb. 1, CPD has made 56 arrests with 18 being felony arrests. Seventy-two case reports have been filed, with theft (at 17 cases) and stalking, harassment and intimidation (at 12 cases) being the majority. The CPD has also seized 3.5 grams of methamphetamine, less than 90 grams of marijuana and less than three grams of spice.
In other developments:
-- Claims: The council approved the claims at a total of $306,130.95, a decrease from last month of $241,758.34 and of $114,056.97 from the year’s average.
-- CPD Policies: The board approved Rule 5 (the process for internal investigations into employee misconduct) and Rule 6 (process for promotion) in the Cloverdale Police Department policies. Other policies added were standard operating procedures for care of vehicles, computer usage, major crime scenes and definitions.
-- CTVFD: On behalf of the Cloverdale Township Volunteer Fire Department, Trustee Dale Monnett thanked the town for the $20,000 in public safety money it received, which purchased 15 new sets of head-to-toe gear.
-- Ordinance 2017-1: The council again tabled Ordinance 2017-1, which amends Ordinance 2007-5 with updates from state law concerning towing, impounding and inventory of abandoned vehicles and parts of vehicles, to its next regular meeting on June 13 at 7 p.m. in the Cloverdale Town Hall.
-- Ordinance 2017-3: The council approved Ordinance 2017-3, which governs building and construction regulations. Visit the Cloverdale Town Hall to view the ordinance.
-- Ordinance 2017-4: The council approved Ordinance 2017-4, which amends Ordinance 2014-26 concerning Cloverdale zoning. Visit the Cloverdale Town Hall to view the ordinance.
-- Signage: The council again tabled the issue of setting up welcome signs at either end of town after it approved Town Manager Wayne Galloway’s looking into another, cheaper option. Dan Moon also said he was working on the issue and would present his idea at the next regular meeting on June 13 at 7 p.m. in the Cloverdale Town Hall.
-- Town Hall Roof: The council approved a bid from Mannan Construction to repair the town hall roof with metal roofing for $11,500. Bids to repair the fire station roof and build a bulk water station near Interstate 70 are being advertised. Those for the water station are set for consideration at the next regular meeting.
The Cloverdale Town Council’s next regular meeting will be June 13 at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall.