Oct 15, 2019 4 min read

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The North Strabane Police Department is hoping to take on a second K9 unit, and they’re asking for the public’s help.

Next month, the department will hold a fundraiser to try to pay for the second K9 and a new vehicle for it, through donations. The cost will be about $43,000.

Over the summer, the township, already home to K9 Officer Drago, approved that the department could get a second dog, “contingent upon it being 100% funded via donations and not tax dollars,” said township manager Andy Walz.

The cost of the dog is about $12,000, and the vehicle would be approximately $31,000, according to Officer Tim Bliss, who will be the new K9’s handler once the funding is available.

“We don’t have a vehicle, so we’re not just trying to raise money for the dog,” Bliss said. “It’s a big expense for a police department.”

Police Chief Brian Hughes said the department applied for a grant from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation in August to help pay for some of the costs. He said they won’t find out if they were awarded any money until February.

“The main reason we’re doing this is that, we have the one dog, but it’s not always on duty,” Hughes said. “When they’re off duty, they’re not always available to come out. If you’re working daylight, it’s tough to go out to a call at 3 a.m. Having a second dog would increase our coverage.”

Bliss, who started with the township in 2017, has been a police officer since 1995. He recently retired from McKeesport Police Department, where he trained K9 officers for 16 years.

“I’ve been training dogs for a long time,” he said. “The rewards for me are mainly in the discovery of stuff that wouldn’t be found.”

Over the course of his career, Bliss said the dogs he’s worked with have found missing people and criminals by following scents. He mentioned one instance, when a 13-year-old girl was missing near McKeesport. Bliss said she had left her house with the intention of self-harm, but his K9 unit found her.

“We tracked her and found her going into a park,” he said. “Finding her was a really big deal for me.”

Bliss said having K9 units is especially an asset to small, local departments that “don’t have the manpower.” He said North Strabane typically operates with two to four officers per shift.

“Sometimes, depending on the call, they’re automatically outnumbered,” he said. “The audible bark of a dog is a deterrent for people acting out at police.”

Bliss has two retired dogs from his time in McKeesport – one that had been certified in patrol and narcotics, and the other in explosives. If the funding comes through for the township to get a second dog, he said it would be trained in patrol and narcotics, like Drago.

“Drago needs a coworker he can relate to,” said Sgt. Matthew Mancini, Drago’s handler.

Mancini said he believes the county is stretched thin when it comes to K9 officers. Cecil Township has a unit, with Sgt. Jeff Holt and Diesel, and Washington has K9 Officer Tony and his handler Matthew Karlowsky. Officer Ben Shaffer and Aras are the K9 unit that patrols Trinity School District, and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office has Obie, who’s certified in tracking and explosives and is handled by Deputy Kristie Salzman.

He said there are two other K9 officers in the Mon Valley region of the county.

“These are the only ones I’m aware of on this side of the county,” Mancini said. “In my opinion, there’s not nearly enough in the county. They’re a valuable tool.”

He said the county units train together with Bliss’ help, and they test for their annual certifications together.

“It’s all fun to these dogs,” Bliss said. “Everything is play to them. That’s what develops that bond – their doing things to please the handler.”

A designer purse bingo fundraiser for the new K9 will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 3 at The Meadows Casino.

“Instead of winning cash for the bingo, you win designer purses,” Bliss said.f

Tickets are $30 and include lunch and soft drinks. Bingo starts at 1 p.m., and baskets, boxes and purses will be raffled off throughout the event. Bliss said about 200 tickets have sold so far, with all of the proceeds going toward the K9 unit.