A K-9 has proven once again why they are an indispensable component of every police department despite the cost of training and maintaining one.
Bane, a K-9 with the Powhatan County Sheriff’s Office, is credited with quickly locating two lost children in the woods of Powhatan, Virginia, shortly before night fell on March 23.
Like most law enforcement agencies across the country, the Powhatan Sheriff’s Office also faces budgetary challenges. With resources being finite, officials face the difficult task of deciding which programs to keep and which to minimize if not send to the chopping block.
However, despite its cost, Powhatan officials are proudly committed to keeping the K-9 program going and last Saturday’s rescue only validated their decision.
In a Facebook post that featured Bane sitting proudly atop a patrol car, the Powhatan Sheriff’s Office wrote:
“Maintaining a K-9 program is expensive and very time consuming and that is why many agencies the size of the Powhatan Sheriff’s Office do not have one.
“But incidents like last night’s two 8-year-old children being lost in the woods are why the Sheriff keeps the program going strong.”
Two 8-year-old children went missing as they were playing in the woods as dusk was falling over the town and they were nowhere to be found. Parents and neighbors all spread out to find the kids but turned up nothing even after 45 minutes of searching. With night quickly falling, they decided to call the sheriff.
As soon as they got the call, the sheriff’s office dispatched K-9 Bane with several deputies in order to try to locate the children.
Deputy Quinn Pasi, Bane’s handler, was eager to put all of Bane’s training to the test and confidently led the dog into the steadily darkening woods.
Sure enough, Bane managed to easily track down the kids.
“Within 15 minutes of K-9 Bane entering the woods he was able to track and locate the children,” the sheriff’s office reported.
Both kids were returned safely home and none the worse for wear.
Chloe Reese, one of the missing kids, told WRIC-TV that she was with her friend playing in the woods went they accidentally went too far and got lost. Chloe was grateful that K-9 Bane arrived to rescue them.
“Finding a lost child is satisfying in and of itself, but professionally it kind of reassures the training and the time that we put into the program that it’s actually working,” said Pasi.
“So that’s where I get a lot of the satisfaction from beyond the happiness of finding lost children.”
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