New K-9 already makes dent in taking drugs off the street in Merrick County

Posted By: Channel 8 Eyewitness News

8@klkntv.com

CENTRAL CITY, Neb. — The new K-9 at the Merrick County Sheriff’s Office is already helping, after just four months on the job.

The Merrick County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) said there has been an increase in drugs throughout the county, so the help of a K-9 was much needed.

Shadow joined MCSO as their only K-9 in February 2018.

"We went through training at the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center in Grand Island. We went through the narcotics detection school there with her, graduated in the first week of April and now we’ve been on the streets of Merrick County ever since," said MCSO Deputy Sheriff and handler Taylor Samek.

MCSO said Shadow is the first K-9 since 2009 and was much needed.

They said she’s already been on over 230 calls for service.

"We started seeing an uptake in narcotic related cases in our county. Everything from very small possession cases all the way up to distribution cases. The need was there. We started using dogs from other agencies and it just seemed like we were calling those dogs all of the time. We thought it was definitely needed for us to have one," said Samek.

Samek said Shadow is trained to detect the odors of marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine.

"We respond to normal calls just like every other deputy. If someone calls 911 we go but when we’re not doing that, our predominant job is getting narcotics off of the streets. Our primary mode of doing that is just pulling vehicles over," said Samek.

Since April, she’s helped in over 40 narcotics cases including felony, misdemeanor and infraction level cases.

She’s also helped with over 360 citations and warnings.

"We really get a mix of everything. We’ve had everything from very small amounts of marijuana all the way up to very large cases involving people selling narcotics, people delivering narcotics to other places and everything in between. Predominately in this area we see marijuana and methamphetamine. Also she’s not trained to sniff it but we also run into prescription pills," said Samek.

Samek says when she’s off the job, she’s just like any normal dog.

"She barks at the garbage man, we go on walks, she likes to eat and that’s kind of her life. She just really enjoys it," said Samek.

The Merrick County Sheriff’s Office said Shadow and all of the equipment cost a total of $35,000 which was all privately donated.