Scott City to get first police dog; sheriff's department will keep its dog, Rex

Scott City has purchased its first police dog from a Springfield, Missouri, kennel rather than accept an older canine being offered by the Scott County Sheriff’s Department.

“Everybody is very excited,” police chief Mike Culler said Monday.

As late as mid-July, the Scott City Council considered accepting an offer from Scott County Sheriff Wes Drury for that department’s dog.

But Culler said city officials instead chose to buy a 1-year-old, female Belgian Malinois named Raina.

“We just got a better deal,” he said.

As a result, the sheriff’s department has decided to keep its 6-year-old police dog named Rex and train one of the department’s employees to serve as the dog’s new handler, said chief deputy Ryan Dennis.

Dennis said training a new handler for Rex could take two or three months.

Culler said Scott City’s purchase of Raina and startup costs for the K-9 unit total about $7,000.

“We were able to afford the initial purchase,” he said, adding the community’s fundraising efforts will go to help maintain the program.

Raina is still undergoing training, but Culler said the dog could be on the police force within a month.

Culler said if Scott City had acquired the sheriff’s department canine, the animal would have had a service life of only about two years.

Drury had indicated he wanted to eliminate the K-9 unit after he fired the dog’s handler, Carl Rose, earlier this year.

Rose, of Sikeston, Missouri, said he was fired in June for alleged “insubordination,” but believed the real reason was he had announced he would run for sheriff next year against Drury.

But Drury in an email denied the accusation. He said it was a personnel matter.

Rose had sought to buy the dog, but Drury said in an email Rex was purchased with donations and could not be sold.

According to Rose, the sheriff’s department had proposed donating Rex to the Scott City Police Department in exchange for a Scott City patrol car.

Culler said in June the police department had been looking at establishing a K-9 unit to help combat illegal drugs in Scott City.

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