K9 Program: A Changing of the Guard

Everest Metro Canine Program welcomes Aron to the team

Beginning in December 2012, with the anticipated retirement of our police canine, Lord, we started fund raising for a replacement canine, the related equipment, ongoing maintenance, and training for a new canine handler, at an anticipated cost of $25,000.00. After numerous contributions from local businesses, residents, and DC Everest student fund raisers, as well as grants from the BA and Esther Greenheck Foundation, of Wausau, and the K9s4COPs Foundation of Houston, Texas, we have secured the necessary funds, acquired a new canine, and sent the new handler through training, which will be completed May 17.

You are cordially invited to attend a planned media event we are hosting at the Weston-Schofield Municipal Courtroom, 5301 Mesker St, in the Village of Weston, on May 23, 2013 at 10:00 am. We will be publicly acknowledging our donors to the EMPD Canine Program and giving you an opportunity to meet our retiring canine Lord and his partner, Sgt Robert Dickerson, as well as meet the newest addition to our team, Aron, and his partner Officer Matthew Krembs. We look forward to seeing you then.

Support for this project has been provided by the BA and Esther Greenheck Foundation, and...

K9s4COPs at WWW.K9s4COPs.org

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Lord set to retire in 2013 and donation funding for a replacement has begun

The initial cost of dog is $16,000 - $24,000, which includes the initial training. Like our current dog, the new dog will be funded only through community donations and must have a zero impact on the department budget. Our current K-9, Lord, has approximately 2100 deployments and has contributed to numerous arrests, apprehensions and seizures. The dog is one of the departments most valuable and utilized tools. The Patrol K-9 does the following: Narcotics Detection, Building Searches, Area Searches, Article Searches, Tracking, Officer Protection and Criminal Apprehension. The K-9 is also responsible for providing many community demonstrations. The new K-9 will be a Belgian Malinois or German Shepherd breed, which have proved to be excellent working dogs and will have a working life of 8-11 years. We appreciate the community support for the K-9 program and look forward to continuing this important service. To donate or if you have any questions, please contact the Everest Metro Police Department and ask to speak with Sergeant Rob Dickerson or Officer Matt Krembs at (715) 359-4202. Your donation will be greatly appreciated. All donations are 100% tax deductable. Thank you in advance for your support!

Officer Dickerson & Lord

With the 2005 hire of Officer Robert Dickerson, Everest Metro was fortunate to acquire his K-9  companion...Lord. The Everest Metro K-9 program is starting for a lot less than it would normally cost. "When  all said and done, we estimate that it's going to cost $15,000 to $18,000 for the entire program," said former Chief Dan Vergin. "We're saving about $20,000 plus the time it would take to send somebody to get trained. "It's not something we planned," he added. "But it's a unique opportunity, and we're going to capitalize on it." The department received several donations from area businesses to help defray the dog's $6,000 price tag.

Lord - a Belgian Malinois (pronounced MAL-in-wah) is a medium size dog of exceptional beauty and working ability used often in police work. Lord is young for a police dog, but Dickerson said that he's well trained and will probably serve the force for 10 years. "He's a patrol canine," he said. "Lord does drug tracking, building search, area search, officer protection and apprehension. He does so many things and he does them well."