The Laguna Beach Police Department will restart its K-9 program following the pledge of over $146,000 from a group of private donors for the purchase and training of two dogs, plus a modified patrol vehicle.
The City Council unanimously voted on Dec. 14 to acceptation the donations. The lion’s share of the funds came from the Offield Family Foundation, which has donated $75,433 and pledged another $44,207 in the First Quarter of 2020. The Crevier Family Foundation and Bob and Bobi Roper have each donated $13,320 as well.
Mayor Sue Kempf thanked all of the donors for their “extraordinarily generous” contributions to the Police Department.
K-9 Ranger, a seven-year-old Belgian Malinois, was humanely euthanized in June after a months-long battle with cancer. Ranger was purchased and trained with the help of private donations in 2015.
Laguna Beach will buy the future working dogs from Adlerhorst International, a Jurupa Valley-based company that imports dogs from the Netherlands and trains them for service in law enforcement agencies throughout the United States.
“My staff and I feel that having seven day a week coverage with both dogs—one on the front half of the week and one on the back half of the week will just add an additional layer of public safety to the community,” Laguna Beach police chief Jeff Calvert told councilmembers.
Besides apprehending uncooperative individuals, the new K-9s will be trained in narcotics searches, locating missing people, and helping officers encourage intoxicated people to comply with directions.
The first K-9 is expected to be in service with its handler by the first quarter of 2022 and the second K-9 by the second quarter of 2022, Calvert said. The process to select the new K-9 handlers is underway.
A 2022 Ford Interceptor modified to safely transport K-9s will also be purchased with $43,597 from the donation. Laguna Beach police already have one K-9 patrol vehicle in their fleet.
Calen Offield and his wife Amber Offield were involved in advocating for the City and Laguna Beach Unified School District to tap a second school resource officer in December 2019. The recently met with Calvert and asked about the Department’s unfunded programs and the absence of a K-9 within the department came up, Offield said.
“My kids are third generation in Laguna. The town has been good to us and we’re just trying to give back,” Calen Offield said. “There’s a mood in our country that’s been hard on some of our public servants and hopefully this shows the community appreciates the work they do.”
Bob Roper was born and raised in Laguna Beach and his family has supported community programs for years. Last year, he contributed to the commissioning of the Skipper Carrillo statue at Park Avenue and Glenneyre Street.
“When we heard the department lost Ranger we felt it was very important for the department to have one dog if not two,” Roper said.
Roper remembers calling Laguna Beach police to his building during a break-in. A K-9 was dispatched to search underneath the building. Laguna Beach police can request mutual aid from K-9 officers in neighboring agencies.
A Crevier Family Foundation spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
