Life Church in Roscoe presents donation to Winnebago County Cops, Cars and K9s

JEAN SEEGERS PHOTO The Herald
Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana accepted a check for $5,313.45 from Roscoe Life Church Assembly of God representative Heather Hulmes (center) on Sept 19. The donation is in support of the Winnebago County K9 Unit that depends on community support throughout the year. Five Canine teams make up the County program. Canine handlers (not in order) Eric Pearson, Tom Warmoth, Steve Martellaro, Nick Cunningham and bloodhound “Roxie” attended the presentation.

By Jean Seegers
REPORTER
Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana is a big believer in the value of including a K9 Unit in his department. Caruana re-instituted the K9 Unit in 2016. The unit is part of the Uniform Service Division. No tax dollars support the K9 Unit, instead, several benefits are held throughout the year to provide funding for the food and care of the animals.
Caruana and K9 handlers gathered at Life Church Assembly of God in Roscoe, Sept. 19 to accept a donation of $5,313.45.
Caruana said it has been a humbling experience working with the animals and seeing the community come together to support the Unit.
There are five Winnebago County K9 teams. The teams specialize in narcotics, detection, tracking, area and building searches, article searches and apprehensions.
The cost of training a Canine Unit officer and animal is $76,000. Deputies are required to attend a 10-week training at Illinois State University.
Cunningham introduced Roxie, a bloodhound who is a “scent discriminator.” Roxie’s specialty is sniffing out crime and missing persons.
The unit includes two additional bloodhounds two labs who are narcotic dogs, three Malinois, and one Dutch Shephard.