COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. — Generous donations from the community have helped Colonial Heights Police raise enough money to buy a new tracking K9.
“We felt like we could utilize a search K9 with regard to an increase in crime, in regard to burglaries. We’ve had a couple of missing persons that we felt like, if we had our own search K9 that we could be better, more responsive to the public,” Colonial Heights Police Chief Jeff Faries said.
Faries said with their own blood hound Colonial Heights Police could react more quickly and rely less on Chesterfield or Virginia State Police tracking K9s for help.
Faries said they decided to ask the community for donations so the city would not have to raise taxes.
“We’ve had an overwhelming response with regards to receiving donations,” he said. “We’ve surpassed our goal and business owners have been tremendous in support of the police department.”
Colonial Heights property owner and businessman Vince Ferranti donated $8,000 to the cause on Wednesday.
“Anything I can do to help the police department do a better job directly affects my business and makes it prosper,” Ferranti said. “There is a great feeling that businesses and police work together to make this a safe community.”
Faries said his department would use the money to not only buy the blood hound, but to also train the officer assigned to the K9 and cover veterinarian bills.
Colonial Heights Police have a narcotics K9 on the force. The blood hound would be used to track suspects and missing people.
