Lawmaker asks how K-9 unit formed with FMCSA funds, without approval

Wisconsin Department of Transportation photo

The Associated Press

4/21/2008

MADISON, Wis. — The State Patrol should have sought legislative approval before creating a K-9 unit in 2006, a lawmaker said.

Rep. Kitty Rhoades, R-Hudson, is co-chair of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee and wants an explanation of how the K-9 unit got started without legislative oversight.

“No one is questioning the value of the program,” Rhoades said. “But how many other programs are there out there that state agencies, or state officials, started on their own?”

Rhoades wants State Patrol Superintendent Dave Collins or another official to discuss how the program started and what it will cost in the future.

Collins said he made an enforcement decision to start the K-9 unit that will eventually have seven dogs — one for each regional Patrol post. Five dogs are already in use, with two more being trained to sniff out illegal drugs in vehicles.

But Collins said when the Legislature gave the State Patrol permission to spend Federal Motor Safety Carrier Administration money, lawmakers lost the right to dictate exactly how it was spent.

“That enforcement decision doesn’t rise to the level of a Joint Finance (Committee) vote,” Collins said. “My question if I was Kitty Rhoades or a taxpayer is, ‘How come the State Patrol wasn’t doing this in 1979 or ‘89?’“

Collins said the dogs are another crime-fighting tool, like radar units or video gear, that troopers and truck inspectors need to do their job. It costs about $12,000 to buy each dog and to train it and its handler. But Rhoades said more oversight is needed by legislators, who are required to monitor state spending.

“Any time we’re taking in revenue, expending revenue and starting programs, some elected official ought to be aware of it,” Rhoades said. “I would suggest that they get here quickly and explain how this happened, and what they are doing.”

Jessica Erickson, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jim Doyle, said the governor trusted Collins to make decisions like the K-9 program.

Collins said the dogs have worked out well and been used by local law enforcement agencies. Over the past 15 months, the dogs have searched 650 vehicles, leading to drug seizures in 81 cases.

“These are only seven dogs, spread across 72 counties,” Collins said. “It’s also an outstanding tool for local sheriffs and police chiefs, who maybe can’t afford a (dog). Our dog is in the area, can do a walk-around, when requested, or a sniff for narcotics.”

One dog sniffed out 1,048 pounds of marijuana in November in West Salem. Another assisted in a Milwaukee Amtrak station investigation in March that resulted in the confiscation of $32,000 in cash, said Patrol Sgt. Paul Matl, field coordinator for the K-9 unit.

When a dog finds drugs, it is rewarded with its favorite toy — and usually a tug-of-war game with its handler, Matl said.

“They live for playing tug-of-war with that toy,” he said.

The State Patrol’s unit includes five German shepherds, one Dutch shepherd and a Belgian Malinois.

State troopers in neighboring states had K-9 units before Wisconsin. Minnesota has 11 dogs, while Iowa has four.