Salem K-9 officers replace retired brothers after marijuana law change | News, Sports, Jobs

The Salem Police Department announced in August that its first two K-9 officers, Simon and Argo, who have served the department since 2016 and 2017 respectively, would take early retirement following the legalization of cannabis for adult use in Ohio because both were trained to identify the presence of marijuana. Salem Police Sgt. Mike Garber, who served as K-9 Simon’s handler, said that without cannabis legalization, both Simon and Argo could have served ten years, which would have meant two more years of service for Simon, and three more years of service. more for Argo.

“Both could have done 10 years of service, but Simon is cut off at eight years and Argo at seven years,” » said Garber.

Simon and Argo, who are 9 1/2 and 9 years old, respectively, are expected to stay with their current owners throughout their retirement, and although their official retirement dates aren’t set until Dec. 3, Garber said they already were. effectively retired, their successors were now fully certified.

They are replaced by K-9 Chaz who will be partnered with Garber and K-9 Fero who will be partnered with Patrolman Steve LaRosa. Garber said Chaz and Fero were trained as “three scent dogs”, meaning they are trained to identify heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and their derivatives.

K-9 Chaz was sworn in Wednesday by Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey, right, and will succeed the department’s first K-9 officer, Simon, as Sgt. Mike Garber’s partner before Simon’s early retirement following the legalization of cannabis in Ohio. Chaz is a mix of Belgian Malinois and German Shepherd. He is one year and nine months old and has been serving his community with Garber since November 1st. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)

“We made the change very early to anticipate any upcoming legislation and thus be able to have the dogs certified only with illegal substances and not legal substances.” » said Garber.

Chaz and Fero are both Belgian Malinois and German Shepherd mixes, approximately one year and nine months old and one and a half years old, respectively, and each cost $10,000. This price does not include the training cost of approximately $7,000, which was provided by the Vaness K9 Training Center in Canton. While the Ohio Legislature floated the idea of ​​providing funding to the department that had to replace its K-9s following the state’s legalization of cannabis in House Bill 396 in February, no funding has been forthcoming. further resulted from these discussions following its first hearing in May. 8.

Garber joked that Chaz and Simon had opposite personalities, as Simon was very active and hyper when in the cruiser but very quiet when working, while Chaz is calm in the cruiser but very energetic when in worked.

“When Chaz is working he is very loud, but when Simon was working he never made any noise,” » said Garber.

Garber thanked the community for its continued support of the K-9 unit, which is funded entirely through donations, grants and the unit’s annual fundraising efforts, such as the annual K-9 Gold outing.

“We have always been very fortunate to have such a supportive community and none of this would be possible without them. » » said Garber.

While their inauguration ceremony took place on Wednesday, Chaz and Ferro have done their part to protect Salem and its surrounding communities from drugs since November 1, with Chaz deployed and alerting on narcotics for his first criminal arrest on November 16 .

Garber said being a K-9 handler was “the most beautiful job in the world” noting that having a K-9 partner you know “Always support you” makes difficult situations easier. Garber also said that while there is a learning curve for a new K-9, they are important force multipliers not only for the department, but also for partner law enforcement entities who call on Salem K-9s for help, such as the Mahoning Valley Drug Enforcement Task Force. .