Plainfield – The Plainfield Police Department welcomed a new K9 Officer to their department on Thursday, June 1, 2023, the dog, Echo, comes as a rescue from the Hendricks County Animal Shelter.
“We are excited to welcome Echo, a Belgian Malinois, to our department through our new K9 Rescue Initiative,” said Chief of Police, Kyle Prewitt. “It means that much more considering we typically spend $10,000 to $15,000 per dog. With this new initiative, we will not only save taxpayer dollars, but we are also rescuing these dogs from an uncertain future at the shelter.”
The Plainfield Police Department sent K9 Officer, Rob Prichard, to a 10-week Southern Coast K9 Inc. (SC K-9) training. The SC K-9 Academy is a premier dog training academy. SC K-9 courses certify Officer Prichard to identify and evaluate potential shelter dogs that would be good candidates to become police K9s, train the K9’s, and then train the new handlers with those dogs. The initiative is designed to take dogs from shelters to the streets.
“This all started with some research by Officer Prichard and providing a presentation to our administration on his vision for the future. His love and compassion for dogs coupled with a strong relationship with the Hendricks County Animal Shelter also contributed to making this happen,” said Deputy Chief Joe Aldridge
The mission of the PPD Canine Section is to provide a trained police canine to assist in the prevention and detection of crimes, locating persons and evidence sought by the police, the promotion of a favorable public image of the police department, and working to better the lives of these shelter dogs. The rescued K9’s will be utilized as single purpose K9’s, which means the K9 will do detection and obedience only.
Plainfield Police Officer, TJ Peters, will be Echo’s handler.
