Goodrich-Levi’s tale as a police dog began on Monday night.
Levi, a Belgian Malinois, along with his handler, Genesee County Paramedic Deputy Justin Hunt, attended the village council meeting to thank the council for the donation which brought the canine into service.
In June, the council OK’d $10,732 held over in the village Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) account to purchase the police dog for the Genesee County Sheriff’s Department. Due to budget cuts at the federal level, funding for D.A.R.E., which was founded in 1983 and taught by trained uniformed officers in elementary and middle schools, was gradually discontinued locally.
Village Manager Jakki Sidge, who recommended the donation, said the D.A.R.E. fund balance had existed for about 10 years.
‘We are very limited where that money can be spent,? she said.
In appreciation for the donation from D.A.R.E., the sheriff department named the canine Levi after the village founder Levi Goodrich, who settled in the area about 1835 after traveling from New York.
Levi, who is about 15-months-old, was born in Holland and came to the United States a month ago. Levi and handler Deputy Hunt have been training at Oakland Community College in a 12-week program. Levi lives with Hunt, his wife, and their young daughter.
‘We’ll be done in about a week,? said Hunt. ‘Levi will be a dope dog’narcotic work. He’ll also be used as a tracking dog that can cover about 600 yards right now. He’ll have to learn that sometimes there’s a bad person at the end of the trail, other times there may be a child.?
The breed Belgian Malinois is the same dog used by the Secret Service to protect the White House.
The new police dog is needed to replace ‘Uzi,? who retired along with his handler, Genesee County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Antcliff, in 2010.