Unemployment Hits New Class: DOGS

Dogs are now finding themselves dropped in the workforce. | photo: flickr/Kenny Sharpe 

Despite the latest unemployment results reported by the US Dept. of Labor, the US economy is still in stagnation. With over 12 million individuals unemployed in the US, there is a growing class of citizens that has recently faced this threat: Dogs.

In the town of Dillon, Colorado the jobs of two trained search dogs have been cut  from the Dillon Police Department. The cuts were made by  Dillon’s new chief of Police  Steve Neumeyer in an effort to due to budgetary concerns by eliminating the agency’s canine program. Neumeyer told the Summit Daily that the cost of the dogs are thousands of dollars each year plus the hours of upkeep and training they require  to attend with their police handlers and was  depleting the department’s limited staff.

The police force in Dillon, CO. | photo: Dillon Police Dept Webpage

K-9 units employ dogs in the force. | photo: flickr/Kristine Gunter

“We're in budgetary restraints and there had to be an adjustment,” Neumeyer said. “I had to make a hard decision going into 2013.” Unlike in the human world, these dogs won’t be  thrown out into the street to fend for themselves. Both of them  will remain with their handlers in Summit County as pets only, while their handlers (also Police Officers) will continue to patrol on their regular routes.

DOG OUTSOURCING
What will the town of Dillon do now if they needed the assistance of a K-9 unit? The sheriff’s office will make it’s (fully trained) police dogs available to the town of Dillon  all times  since there is no canine unit. Since Neumeyer became chief of police back in June of this year, the canine unit has not been on the patrol beat and reportedly been sent out once before that. “I just don't have the demand in my town for it,” Neumeyer said. “Is it cost effective, as a steward of taxpayer money, to have a program like that and not have any need for it?

K-9's in law enforcement require hours of training. | photo: flickr/Kristine Gunter

“Dogs are thousands of dollars each year plus the hours of upkeep and training to the police department.”

As the canine’s require between 10-20 hours of training monthly, Neumeyer told the Daily Summit that that this could  represent a legal liability for the department. “There's so much exposure to the police department if those standards of training are not met at a high level,” Neumeyer said. “If a dog is out on patrol and hasn't been trained for two or three weeks and makes a false reading or maybe injures a citizen, there's a huge exposure 

SOURCE CONTENT: Summit Daily

SOURCE PHOTOS: flickr | Dillon Police Dept Webpage