Local News

K9 officer introduced at Buckhannon City Council

BUCKHANNON -- The Buckhannon Police Department's newest addition to the force has four paws and likes Milk Bones.

K-9 Erros, an 18-month-old male Dutch Shepherd from Holland, is a dual-purpose dog trained to detect methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine drugs along with tracking, area searches and apprehension.

Sgt. William Courtney, a 12-year veteran of the Buckhannon Police Department, introduced Erros at the most recent Buckhannon City Council meeting.

He completed six weeks of training with Erros at Pennsylvania-based Shallow Creek Kennels to become his handler, learning a variety of voice and hand signal commands. The voice commands are a mixture of English, Dutch and German commands to which Erros will respond.

Since completing the training, Courtney returned to Buckhannon with his new K-9 partner.

"We've been on the road since last week," Courtney said.

Mayor Robbie Skinner said, "This is something that Sgt. Courtney wanted to bring to our force. He met with many of us on council last year to get our thoughts about it. I'm proud of Sgt. Courtney for bringing this to us -- unsolicited -- and taking on the responsibility of being his caregiver. I think you can see there is love and affection there mutually."

Erros showed off for those in attendance at the council meeting.

Courtney was drawn to the Dutch Shepherd for their brindle coats, but said he has always liked both the Dutch Shepherd and the Belgian Malinois - another popular breed in K-9s.

"Dutch Shepherds are a lot like Belgian Malinois," he said. "They are very active, high-energy dogs, very smart and courageous. He is going to do good."

Courtney said the training he received at Shallow Creek Kennels was excellent.

"It was pretty intense," he said. "The majority of the instructors were prior military K-9 handlers or prior law enforcement. It's a well-renowned kennel and that is one of the reasons why we picked them."

Courtney was joined by officers from around the country.

He said an organization called Blue Line K-9 Project is working to get Erros his own bullet-proof vest.