The Greene County Sheriff’s Office is well on its way to achieving its fundraising goal for a new K-9 unit.

Sheriff Jack Williams says their initial goal was $15,000 for a new canine, while also staying at the training facility, with the handler, Chris Freshe. Williams tells Raccoon Valley Radio, they are just over $14,000, with over $12,000 in contributions from businesses and organizations, and the rest from private cash donations from residents. Williams explains that along with the drug searches and apprehension tactics, the K-9 unit is beneficial in other areas as well.

“We will support our surrounding communities, if they need a dog, we’ll send our’s to go help with whatever they may need it for. We also still use the canine, hopefully once COVID has slowed up, we’ll get back into the schools to do talks with kids, demonstrations for kids,  because the youth is our main goal. If we can keep them on the right path, then the world would be a lot better off.”

Williams says they want to retire their current canine Leo by next spring and have another dog ready to take his place by then. He appreciates the community support for their endeavors.

“I just express enough our appreciation to the businesses and citizens who have donated. We’ve had a lot of people that just don’t have the means to donate, but they still show their support. And that means just as much to us as the donations do.”

Williams says they ultimately need an additional $5,000 to purchase new equipment because the current equipment is over ten years old. He adds, donations can be accepted anytime with checks made payable to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office with the payment earmarked for the canine department.