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Tyrone police dog fund reaches halfway mark

Over two days, $4,000 received in donations

From Mirror staff reports

Tyrone police are halfway to funding a new police dog.

“We’re at $12,500 and we received $4,000 in donations in the past two days,” Tyrone Police Chief John Romeo said Thursday.

Romeo said the department had been considering bringing another police dog to Tyrone for some time and in June, Borough Council agreed to seek funding for the dog.

The goal is $25,000 that would go toward the costs of acquiring the dog, one Romeo said would be used for drug detection and patrol.

Operation Our Town is collecting donations for the dog through what is dubbed “Operation K-9” to help in the effort, and the police department has set up a GoFundMe.com page for contributions.

With Tyrone’s Christmas parade and tree lighting scheduled for 6 p.m. today, local business Exposed Grafix Screen Printing and Embroidery is pitching in to help by hosting a bake sale called, “Take a bite out of crime. One cookie at a time.” There also will be free hot dogs and T-shirts for sale to support the K-9 program in Tyrone, Romeo said.

Tyrone’s last police dog was Vilo, who was obtained through a grant, but when Vilo’s handler Matt Lutz left the department in 2012 to take a position with Logan Township police, Vilo went with with him.

Romeo said having a police dog will broaden the department’s abilities when it comes to detecting drugs, and a dog also can be used to track and catch suspects if necessary, adding to officers’ safety.

The police dog also will give Tyrone police another tool to take into schools to talk with kids about crime prevention and drug abuse, he said.

Donations can be made through the department’s GoFundMe.com page or at the borough’s municipal building on Logan Avenue between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

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