On September 28th Officer Matt Anderson of the Freeport Police Department is resigning. With his resignation it left up in the air a very important piece of the K9 unit. What to do with Otto the 6 year old Belgian Malinois?
According to a Freeport Journal Standard article from February 2018 Otto joined the department in May of 2015. Since Anderson is resigning on the 28th of September it leaves the K9 unit without the two required officers due to lack of personnel to run the unit.
In a memo to the city Police Chief Matt Summers said, “The Police Department does not have the manpower to support a two person K9 program at this time. The department will be better served releasing Otto to the current handler as opposed to keeping Otto as property of the city.”
The memo went on to say, “Since Officer Anderson is resigning his position at the Department, the Department has to make the difficult choice on what to do with the K9 partner of Anderson. Historically, K9 officers have been allowed to keep their partners when it is time for the dog to retire. This situation is a little different; K9 Otto is still serviceable at his age. That being said, the police Department does not have the man power to fully staff the K9 program at this point. K9 Otto would have to be kenneled and cared for during the period of time that our manpower is rebuilt. The time frame for being able to man this program is unknown at this time. The skills of the dog are perishable and will diminish over time.”
The issue will be taken up at Monday’s City Council meeting at City Hall at 6PM. The Voice of Freeport will be broadcasting the meeting live on Facebook.
Carl Utt is a newly minted citizen journalist and one of the founders of The Voice of Freeport and Progressive Vision Media LLC
