BY AMY HIGGINS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FAIRFIELD -- Sterling Uhler doesn't have anything against dogs. In fact, he used to raise and train English setter bird dogs. But the Fairfield city councilman just doesn't think his city police should have one.
"In a city like Fairfield, there aren't enough incidents for him to earn his keep," Mr. Uhler said.
But Fairfield should have a dog in action by March, Chief Gary Rednour said. And the police chief says there are plenty of chases, manhunts and drug busts to keep a Fairfield police dog busy.
The dog will be bought and cared for by private donations, mostly through the Fraternal Order of Police Association, the citizens support arm of the FOP. Butler County Sheriff Harold Don Gabbard will make the first donation of $1,000 next week.
The city of Fairfield will pay $25,000 from the capital improvements fund for a specially equipped police cruiser and $55,000 from the operating budget to add an officer to handle the dog.
Even though much of the needed money is being donated, Mr. Uhler thinks the expense is too high. He was the only councilman who voted against a city council provision Monday to buy six new police cruisers. He said he objected to one of the cruisers being specifically for the dog.
"Why spend money when you don't get a return on the investment?" Mr. Uhler said.
Chief Rednour said the return comes from having the convenience of having the dog available at all times. He said Fairfield borrowed Union Township's police dog three times in one night about a month ago.
"There are 10 to 12 times a month -- at least -- in actual covert instances" to use a police dog, Chief Rednour said.
And police dogs are trained better these days than when the department had dogs before, he said. The first Fairfield police dogs, about 25 years ago, had no special search training and were returned to their owners. The next dog, a golden Labrador used for drug searches, died of cancer about four years ago.
Mr. Uhler said Fairfield is still too small to justify the expense of having a police dog. And if the dogs didn't work then, he said, they won't work now.
"It was wasting a police officer," Mr. Uhler said. "Tying one guy up to baby-sit a pair of police dogs was not a wise thing to do."
