Mt. Laurel Council has given its overwhelming support to the Mt. Laurel Police Department’s re-launch of its K9 program.
Now, the police department is hoping the community will offer their support as well.
Council passed a resolution to establish a trust fund for the police department’s K9 program. The Mt. Laurel Police are planning to have a K9 return to the force in September. It will be the first time the police department will have a K9 since 2001.
Police Chief Dennis Cribben is hoping to pay for the K9 program entirely through the trust fund. Doing so would allow the program to function while having no additional impact on taxpayers.
The police department is re-launching the K9 program thanks to a generous donation from police officer Christopher O’Prandy, who adopted a German Shepherd named Tess. O’Prandy is putting Tess through K9 training classes with the goal of having Tess join the force on Sept. 1 and perform a demonstration at this year’s Fall Festival.
The donation allows the police department to focus the donations on preparing for its entry into the force.
“We have to outfit our police car,” Cribben said. “That will cost about $5,000.”
The police department has received offers for donations of supplies such as body armor and dog food. Cribben hopes the generosity of the community will allow the police department to build the trust fund to expand the program.
“We want to build up our fund and create a reserve for things such as health costs,” Cribben said.
Since 2001, the Mt. Laurel Police have relied on other police departments’ K9 units to help with investigations. In 2014 alone, the Mt. Laurel Police had to ask for K9 assistance 49 times. Cribben said re-instituting the program in town would allow the police department to have a dog readily available for the unit to respond to the scene quicker.
Cribben envisions expanding the program to multiple dogs in the future. While Tess is being donated to the police department, Cribben said the trust fund might allow the police department to pay for the adoption of additional dogs.
Residents can make a tax-deductible donation by mailing a check to Police K9 Fund, 100 Mount Laurel Road, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054. Donations can also be made in-person at the Mt. Laurel Municipal Building.
