Jackson formally retires police dog

It's not every day a member of the animal kingdom has a place on Jackson's Board of Aldermen agenda.

Such was the case Monday, July 17, as Beny, police canine officer since 2015, was formally retired by the aldermanic council.

In retiring the nearly 10-year-old Beny, aldermen transferred ownership of the dog to officer Cody Polley, who has promised to care for him for the rest of his days.

The German shepherd's retirement was made necessary by the Nov. 8 voter approval of Amendment 3, the Marijuana Legalization Initiative.

Beny was trained to sniff out drugs, including now-legal marijuana, and is unable to separate individual narcotics for a handler, Jackson assistant police Chief Alex Broch told the Southeast Missourian last month.

Beny briefly got away from officer Polley during Monday evening's meeting and ran behind the aldermen, much to the delight of city lawmakers and a small crowd of attendees.

Police departments statewide are retiring their canines, although Missouri Independent online newspaper reported St. Louis' Metropolitan Police Department is holding over some of its dogs for bomb detection and for tracking suspects.

What's next

Missouri Department of Public Safety is making available "canine replacement grants" to police agencies statewide.

Jackson used a $19,474 DPS grant to purchase a new German shepherd named Riggs, who began service to the county seat municipality June 13 under the supervision of his handler, officer Brandon McSpadden, who received training.