by Geghard Arakelian
The Glendale Police Department swore in 15 new officers along with two K-9 units, which are a brand new addition to the police force.
Sgt. Tom Lorenz of the Glendale Police Department spoke about the impact the new recruits will have on the city. "Unfortunately, though 15 officers were sworn in, we won't feel the impact for six to nine months because they will be training. But rest assured that since these numbers are coming on board, we will be filling in some vacancies."
The K-9 units are two German shepherds trained in three major disciplines - find and bark, narcotics or explosives detection, and hard-surface tracking, Lorenz said during a PowerPoint presentation to the Glendale City Council Tuesday night.
The program is aimed at enhancing officer safety, reducing search time and apprehending fleeing suspects faster.
"The dogs will be a valuable asset, not only in finding missing children or catching criminals who are trying to flee, but because of their keen senses they will be able to reduce valuable time that is often expended on searches," Lorenz said.
Funding for the K-9 program came from several sources, including the 2003 Local Law Enforcement Block Grant, Urban Area Security Initiative and community members such as Glendale Citizens for Law and Order and Glendale Sunrise Rotary.
The department is training two more German shepherds.
