New Jersey

Doggie Blues: Essex County Sheriff's Office to Disband K-9 Unit

Sheriff’s office said it will enter new shared services agreement with other law enforcement agencies to provide same level of K-9 service to the county

"Marko", a bomb-detecting K-9 German Shepherd with the Essex County Sheriff's Office, will be one of the dogs expected to be "laid off" once the office's K-9 unit is disbanded in 2020.
Essex County Sheriff's Office

What to Know

  • The Essex County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday it will disband its K-9 Unit effective 2020 in order to save costs
  • Sheriff’s office will be entering a new shared services agreement with other law enforcement agencies
  • Officers in the unit will be reassigned to other divisions throughout the department and the K-9 dogs will be well-cared for, officials said

The Essex County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday it will disband its K-9 Unit effective 2020 in order to save costs.

"Throughout its tenure, our K-9 Unit has been a vital part of our law enforcement initiatives, assisting our narcotics and bomb units as well as our local, state and federal law enforcement partners," Sheriff Armando Fontoura said in a statement. "Unfortunately, due to increased demands on our budget and in an effort to save our taxpayers money, it has become necessary to find a more cost-effective way to deliver these important services."

Fontoura added that the sheriff’s office will be entering a new shared services agreement with other law enforcement agencies that will provide the same level of K-9 service and response to Essex County.

"Our K-9 Unit has been a vital part of our law enforcement initiatives"

Essex Co. Sheriff Armando Fontoura

Officers in the unit will be reassigned to other divisions throughout the department and the K-9 dogs will be well-cared for, Fontoura said.

"While it is unfortunate that the K-9 unit will no longer be part of our department, the officers who have trained and worked with their dogs will have an opportunity to adopt them," Fontoura added. "For those dogs who are not adopted by their handlers, the county will make arrangements for our canines to be well cared for."

A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office also said that there are four German Shepherds and two Bloodhounds in the unit, which has been a part of the sheriff's office since 1987.

According to the spokesperson, moving the dogs to another law enforcement agency is more difficult than it sounds since they are trained to work with their specific human partners and would have to be retrained if they end up working with new partners – a process that can not only be time intensive, but costly.

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