Rice County Sheriff Grateful for Monetary Gift From Sage Glass

Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn told the Board of Commissioners during their meeting today Sage Glass of Faribault recently made a donation toward the K9 unit.  The Sheriff saying he was not expecting the $2,500 gift.

"They surprised me with this on May 6th.  Because of the large donation I have to ask for a resolution.  This is to help pay for the replacement canine that we are replacing this year or early next year.  Hopefully this year with the way next year's budget is looking like."  Dunn added, "Donations like this are very much appreciated."

Dunn tells KDHL the cost to purchase and train a police dog is about $15,000.  The Rice County Sheriff's Office retired a dog at the first of the year so currently have been using 2 dogs.  They have been using 3 in recent years.

Dunn says they have been holding off on the replacement because of a hope to get body cameras prioritized in the budget.  That was before the current COVID-19 pandemic.

He adds there is, "plenty of work" for the three K9 officers.  Dunn believes the dogs are great for crowd control as well as search missions and sniffing out drugs.

He recalled a fight with about 30 people involved in the county with about a half dozen Sheriff's Deputies and Police Officers on the scene.

"The people kept fighting even though the officers were there but once that K9 arrived and started barking the fighting stopped and people calmed down."

The resolution was passed unanimously by the Rice County Board of Commissioners.