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Handler – Officer Russ Weier
Police K-9 can’t be replaced soon
The Denton Police Department has been without its beloved canine Gino for roughly a month. The 8-year-old Belgian Malinois unexpectedly died last month, and the department doesn’t know if it can devote the resources for another dog anytime soon, police Lt. Chris Summitt said. “We certainly didn’t budget to replace the dog,” said Summitt, who supervised the department’s K-9 unit. “Looking at Gino in terms of his age and where he was performing, we expected to get another two years with him.” Summitt still doesn’t know how Gino died. He said the department didn’t have any indication that he had a medical problem or that someone harmed him. Police dogs typically cost about $14,000, but the total comes out to be roughly $17,000 after adding the cost of training and certification, Summitt said. Initial training typically takes about two to three weeks with an out-of-state vendor, and the department has to send the handler to train with the dog. “We have to house and feed our officer while he’s out there,” Summitt said, adding that Gino and his former handler, Officer Russ Weier, trained at a facility in Louisiana. The cost of a dog cuts into the department’s discretionary fund, which pays for officer training, uniforms and police equipment. Police dogs also require significant time investment.
Weier started training with Gino in 2009, when the dog was 14 months old. They continued to train every week for three to four hours to keep his skills sharp, but maintenance training cut into Weier’s patrol time, Summitt said. Weier is now a part of the special operations unit at the department and could not be reached for comment Thursday. But Summitt said Weier’s job was very stressful at times.“I know it was very stressful for our handler to be by himself,” Summitt said. “You know, how does one person meet the needs of an entire department and still have the day off and still be able to spend time with his family?” For years, Gino and Weier hunted for hidden narcotics and combed crime scenes. Weier told the Denton Record-Chronicle in 2012 that Gino found pistols at two crime scenes that police had thoroughly searched. He also helped locate an elderly Alzheimer’s patient who had wandered away from home. Summitt said the department hasn’t yet felt strained without Gino, but they certainly miss his nose, he said. “He was good member of the team,” Summitt said. “Even if we were able to get another dog, there’s no guarantee that dog would perform at the level that Gino performed.”
