Deputy Lulu, at your service

By CHANSE WATSON

Managing Editor

WALLACE — Its been roughly 13 years since the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office has had a police K-9 of their own. During those years, law enforcement agencies in the Silver Valley have had to rely on outside help (or simply go without) when the skills of a K-9 have been needed.

As of last week, it appears that those days are over.

On May 2, Deputy Ben Abshire and his new partner, an 18-month-old Labrador named Lulu, got their Idaho State Certification and started officially working together.

The young and energetic Lulu was trained by Pacific Coast K-9 in Custer, Wash., as a drug detection K-9. It was there that she learned how to detect four major controlled substances: marijuana, cocaine, Methamphetamine and MDMA (ecstasy).

Police K-9’s usually start their training around 1 year old and could be at it for a significant amount of time, depending on the type of training.

Deputy Abshire explained that the length of the course for him was roughly six weeks, as Idaho requires a total of 160 hours of training to be a dog handler. The first three weeks consisted of classroom work, then he worked with Lulu and four other dogs in weeks four and five. By week six, head trainer Ken Pavlick assigned him Lulu and the two worked together for another week.

The new duo came back to the Silver Valley shortly after graduation and wasted no time getting to work. Roughly two hours into their first shift (the day they officially got their certification), Abshire put Lulu’s newly-honed skills to the test on a traffic stop. The Lab’s keen nose led to the discovery of a small amount of marijuana and other drug paraphernalia. Lulu’s handler was very pleased with the results.

“Textbook, couldn’t have looked prettier.”

The reason for Abshire’s interest in having a four-legged partner can be traced back to the times he spent “bird-dogging” with his dad when he was younger and his experiences in the Army as an infantryman.

“My first experience with dogs was when I was deployed over in Iraq in 2011,” he said. “I got to see military dogs over there and I was super impressed by the things that they found and things that they did.”

More specifically, the Spokane native got to witness explosive detection dogs work with the Army’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal group.

After four years of active duty, he joined the SCSO in November 2016 and is still in the Army Reserves.

For the Silver Valley, the addition of a drug detection K-9 could be an edge in the fight against drug related offenses (which are consistently ranked in the top five most reported offenses in the county).

Sheriff Mike Gunderson (a former K-9 handler himself) explains that Lulu is just the first step towards the goal of one day having an actual K-9 unit and having one available around the clock.

“Hopefully we later add another dog,” he said. “That way we can go after the drugs in the community.”

In the meantime though, Lulu will help where she can by not only sniffing out drugs — but also by being approachable at parades, schools and public functions.

“We wanted to make sure that the first dog we have for our program is a community dog,” Gunderson said. “It’s (about) getting our community understanding what the program is and getting them to support it again.”

The usefulness of K-9’s to law enforcement agencies is well documented. From drug and bomb detection to apprehension and search and rescue, dogs have been an incredibly useful tool for emergency crews of all types — especially here in Shoshone County.

Even off the street and after the bad guy has been arrested, K-9’s continue to aid in the conviction of suspects.

In a previous interview with the News-Press, Shoshone County Prosecuting Attorney Keisha Oxendine explained that having a K-9 involved in a case she is prosecuting is a game changer.

“In every case I can think of where a K-9 has alerted, we’ve gotten a conviction,” Oxendine said. “Whether it be by them pleading guilty or them being convicted at trial.”

Oxendine added that from a legal standpoint, a K-9’s credibility allows both her and law enforcement to do things that could not be done without them.

“The big benefit on our end is that if a trained K-9 for law enforcement gets an alert on a vehicle, there is a well established case law that says a certified K-9 alerting on a vehicle is probable cause to search the vehicle.”

In court, the K-9’s handler testifies on behalf of it and will defend its nose if brought into question. Defense attorneys can question a K-9’s credibility during a trial, but Oxendine said that it is rare and the dog almost always proves it is capable.

Considering Lulu’s massive amount of potential to make a difference here in the Silver Valley, Abshire is adamant that K-9’s like her are invaluable.

“It’s an irreplaceable asset for the sheriff’s office or police agencies as a whole,” he said. “The police world has been using dogs since humans domesticated them. Until the end of time, I still think we are going to use dogs.”

As for Lulu and Abshire teaming up, Gunderson is pleased with the pairing and has the utmost confidence in his deputy (the human one).

“He’s eager. He took this on willingly and he knows that their’s going to be some call-out times,” he said. “That’s the guy to get it done.