Bluffton council plans emergency legislation on Monday to authorize the purchase and training of a police K-9 from funds donated to the K-9 project.

The legislation makes official what was announced earlier when the police department raised over $17,000 in donations and pledges for purchase and training of a police dog.

Police Sergeant Tyler Hochstetler will be the designated handled for the dog.

Ryan Burkholder, police chief, informed Bluffton council members on Oct. 12 that the department achieved it $17,000 goal to purchase the dog.

He added that donations and pledges are still accepted and continue to come in as a contingency fund is being created for the unit. “The support is overwhelming,” Burkholder told The Icon.

In addition to money pledged and donated, Iams Co., of Leipsic, will donate dog food and Bluffton Veterinary Hospital and Pet Care Center has volunteered its services to the department.

Burkholder said that it a service dog would not join the department until next summer. An intensive training session with the service dog and its handler, who will be Tyler Hochstetler, police sergeant, starts in March.

In an earlier interview with Hochstetler, he told the Icon that there are five objectives for adding a K-9 unit to the department and the most important is to keep drugs off the streets and out of the community.

“The growing opioid and drug problem in our area continues to filter into Bluffton despite our best attempts to stop it,” he said.

He added that a K-9 is able to assist officers by performing open-air sniffs of vehicles for narcotics, including marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and all the derivatives.

In addition, a dual-purpose canine will assist officers in track and search for missing persons, track and apprehend criminals, perform drug, building and area searches, perform article searches and recovery and assist in officer protection.

Donations continue to be accepted to the project. For more information, contact Hochstetler at 419-358-2961, extension 114, or at [email protected].