Jan 23, 2014 2 min read

WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg University Thursday presented the Waynesburg Borough Police Department with a $1,000 check for the department’s canine fund to aid in the purchase of equipment and additional training for a recently acquired police dog.

Asa Winters, one of the department’s patrolmen, recently led an effort to obtain and train a police dog for the department. A 3-year-old German shepherd, Izzy, was acquired by Winters in March 2013 and was officially hired by the department in December. Winters, with the help of other local police dog handlers, has been training Izzy to aid in the department’s law enforcement efforts.

The dog will be able to assist officers in everything from a drug search of a vehicle or a home to the tracking of a missing person or a suspect of a crime.

“I want to give a very special thank you to the university for this donation,” said Winters, who graduated from Waynesburg in 2008. “It’s so nice they gave back in this way.”

Robin L. King, senior vice president for enrollment and university relations at Waynesburg University, and Mary Cummings, vice president for student services at the university, presented the donation to Winters and Waynesburg borough police Chief Rob Toth.

“Our goal is to keep the community safe,” said King. “The university is committed to being a good neighbor and contributing to the long-term safety of the community.”

Izzy has been certified through the North American Police Work Dog Association in a number of areas of police work and has been trained in tracking and narcotics detection as well as article, area and building searches.