CRESTVIEW — It's official: two German shepherds have joined the Crestview Police Department.
Mayor David Cadle swore in Kody and Sonic, the CPD's new K-9 units, during a ceremony on Tuesday at the George H. Whitehurst Municipal building.
The CPD began raising money last summer to pay for two police dogs and their training with a CPD officer. People across the southern U.S. donated a total of $30,275.81 by Sept. 24.
The top two donors earned the honor of naming the dogs. Kody is named in honor of a German shepherd owned by the late Diane Gilbert of Alabama. Sonic was named for Sonic's restaurant chain in Crestview.
CPD's K-9 units will now provide the following services:
•Controlled substances detection during traffic stops and searches of buildings and vehicles
•Search-and-rescue, including locating lost children and vulnerable adults, dead bodies and tracking fleeing suspects
•Scent discrimination to match a suspect with a weapon or object used in a crime.
•Instructional presentations to schools and community organizations, including drug prevention education.
Officer Shane Kriser and Officer Jerad Mullinnix went through 13 weeks' training with the dogs. Both officers chose the dog they wanted to work with.
Mullinnix, Sonic's handler, said he always wanted to be a K-9 handler.
"There is no other job like it," he said. "The calls you get to go on are higher priority. And you're able to get drugs off the street and capture the bad guys."
"I get to work with an animal with extreme abilities that we don't have," Kriser, Kody's handler, said. "I not only get to pull drugs off the street that is harming our community, I get to track people down who are also harming our community."
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview mayor swears in police department's new K-9 units