LINN — Osage County Sheriff Michael Bonham announced today that the department has terminated its K-9 program due to the recent departure of K-9 Deputy Ricky Jarvis.
“This was a hard decision to make, but I believe it’s the right one,” said Bonham, noting that K-9 Zed has been transferred to the Camden County Sheriff’s Office, effective immediately. “After giving much thought to the future of the K-9 program, I feel it would be best for everyone to end the program while still allowing Zed to continue working, albeit for a different agency.”
According to Bonham, Camden County has a handler in place and has more manpower, allowing it to utilize Zed’s capabilities on a much higher scale.
The departure of Jarvis left the department without a certified handler.
“That put us in a difficult position because we would have to invest in the K-9 training of another deputy,” said Bonham. “It’s getting harder and harder to hire deputies in today’s world and that it is even more difficult to hire a K-9 handler. That job requires extensive work and sacrifice on the handler’s behalf, outside of the regular duties each deputy takes on and requires extensive investment by the department and the public.”
It also creates a challenge for Zed. “Having too many handlers confuses the dog and ultimately has the potential to cause long-term problems,” said Bonham. “Transferring the dog to Camden County will allow Zed to do what he was bred to do more effectively.”
After much thought and planning, and with the help of private and anonymous donors, the sheriff’s department initially acquired K-9 Diamond but training issues led to a change in February of 2019.
At that time, Boulder Creek K-9 provided the sheriff’s office a 2-1/2-year-old purebred Dutch Shepherd named Zed, imported from the Netherlands and pre-trained in Slovakia.
Zed provided the sheriff’s department with a means to conduct free-air searches of vehicles during stops in which individuals were believed to possess drugs.
“Zed was an outstanding drug dog but we felt it was time to end the program, as much as we hated to do that,” said Bonham. “I’m very grateful for the support the program has received from the community over the past three years.”on Community and Leadership Development. She was a graduate research assistant to Dr. Stephen Jeanetta during her time at MU.
Anderson graduated in April 2018 from Columbia College with a Bachelor’s in Public Administration.