MONTICELLO — The Sullivan County Legislature voted to approve payments to Police Deputy and Canine Handler John Wagner for overtime work caring for the county’s newest police dog, Lea, a German Shorthaired Pointer trained to sniff out narcotics. The vote came after Undersheriff Eric Chaboty introduced the resolution during his report to the Public Safety and Law Enforcement Committee on Thursday, September 4, during which he unveiled a new canine program to mitigate illegal substances in the jail.

“There’s a resolution on [the agenda] for today about a jail canine, we’ve embarked on a new program to help eliminate contraband in the jail,” said Chaboty, who joked that the friendly and docile pup, “will probably lick you to death if you encounter it.” He explained that the resolution allows the canine handler to be paid for the off-hours upkeep of the dog’s health and well-being. 

Wagner said Lea is a 16-month-old German Shorthaired Pointer from Holland that the sheriff’s office acquired from Shallow Creek Kennels, a privately owned and operated Police Service Dog importing and training facility in Sharpsville, Pa. Wagner said the dog is technically owned by the county, but after her eight-hour shift, Lea goes to Wagner’s home where she is fed and cared for.

Chaboty said Lea is new to the sheriff’s office and is safely transported to and from work in a Dodge Durango equipped with an internal dog kennel. Though there are already two canines out on patrol with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, Lea is the first dog to take on the singular task of monitoring contraband inside the jail, a program that started in June. Chaboty said the program was paid for by a $60,000 grant made available through Securus Technology, a Dallas, Texas-based communications provider for jail inmates. Chaboty said “setting up a canine program is very expensive,” and outlined the costs: $9,000 for the canine, the Durango with built-in dog kennel, leashes, harnesses, and veterinarian services. 

Chaboty shared the origin story of the new canine program: “We were talking about starting this program when we had the sheriff from Ulster County come to our office with their dog.” Chaboty said during the demonstration, the dog sniffed a chair in the day room where an inmate had been sitting and signaled that it had picked up a scent. After searching the inmate’s cell, officers uncovered several doses of suboxone, a drug administered in the jail to wean inmates off of opioid addiction. Chaboty said the inmate had been hoarding suboxone, either to keep for himself or sell to other inmates. 

Wagner said that on August 29, Lea completed her police academy training, during which she was “imprinted” on several narcotics; imprinting involves hiding a substance in a box and rewarding the dog with a toy and praise when she sniffs the one containing the drug. Lea is certified to detect the scent of cocaine, crack, ecstasy, black tar heroin, oxycodone, suboxone, heroin, and methamphetamines. When Lea sniffs out any of these substances, she is trained to lay down to signal to her handler that she has found narcotics.

The passing of the resolution ensures that Deputy Wagner will get paid for the overtime care-giving services received by Lea as stipulated by federal law. When asked by District 3 Legislator Brian McPhillips about how many jail staff would be affected, Chaboty clarified the motivation behind the resolution: “This is not to hire or to establish canines, that has already been done by the sheriff under his purview, this is to meet the Fair Labor Standards Act… this is a new program, it’s already in operation, and we just want to make sure the contract covers the payment of this person because they’re entitled to it under the federal law…. ,” adding that the resolution is necessary to modify an existing agreement with the labor union.

MA-9/9-Dog Canine Handler Deputy John Wagner, Sheriff Mike Schiff, and Narcotics Canine Lea