Bath County Sheriff’s Department is getting a K9 drug dog

Hot Springs, Va. –

Bath County Sheriff Robert Plecker is starting his second year in office and he’s got big plans for 2013. He wants to add staff to his department this year, which includes the addition of a four legged helper.

“We are in the early stages of acquiring a drug K9 dog for Bath County, never had one,” says Plecker. “I want to try and get one now. It looks like that’s going to happen rather quickly.”

The cost of the dog will be between $10,000 and $18,000, depending on the amount of training.

“We are in a process now of raising funds for this dog,” says Plecker. “If at any time anyone wants to make a donation they need to call me and I can tell them how to do that, to go only and solely for this drug K9. I am very quickly gaining ground on the revenue.

“And I will say that I want everybody in Bath County to understand they can contribute to this thing. It’s going to benefit Bath County. It’s going to benefit our department. I think Bath County has a drug problem. We are taking steps, big steps, in the right direction to help with that problem, to remedy that problem and this K9 will greatly improve our department in doing that.”

Sheriff Plecker hopes to see his department fully staffed this year.

“As far as the first year in office, I think I’ve been fully staffed for nine days for my first year in,” says Plecker. “Some things happened, I’ve had people sick, I’ve lost people. To be five down my first six months, we managed. We still offered 24 hour coverage. I’m two short right now and we’re still doing the same thing. We’re not changing anything with our coverage. Right now I’m trying to get more done with less help. That’s a little strenuous.”

Last year Sheriff Plecker was able to pick up the pace on slowing drivers down.

“We’ve actually put the radar back in our patrol cars,” says Plecker. “Our guys are making stops. I like what they’re doing. They’re out here trying to keep our county safe and if it means by making a traffic stop and issuing a summons for speeding, that’s what we do.”

2012 was a busy year for the department with 7,752 calls coming into the office and lots of miles covered out on the road.

“One of the biggest things was the mileage that our department traveled,” says Plecker. “We had 130,881 miles for one year. So when I approach the Board about vehicles and maintaining vehicles and buying new vehicles, this is why. We also performed over 2,000 business and residential checks. So I look at that, as we’re out here nightly, daily, we’re checking businesses, we’re checking properties so when you look at that mileage, that’s why. We do transports. We’re still a part of Alleghany Regional Jail so all of our transports, arrests, we go to Alleghany.”

You can reach Bath County Sheriff Robert Plecker at 540-839-2375.