Ever since Indiana State Trooper Mike Carroll entered law enforcement eight years ago, he wanted to be a K-9 officer.
Those dreams turned to reality Friday morning when he graduated from a 14-week K-9 training course with his new partner, Deezle, an 18-month-old German shepherd.
“I’ve looked forward to it since starting my law enforcement career,” Carroll said.
Getting there wasn’t easy.
Carroll’s career started with four years at the Kendallville Police Department, where there were no openings for the K-9 program.
As a state trooper, he spent more than three months raising money for the program, but he wasn’t selected as the next trooper to be a K-9 officer.
But without the fundraising, he never would have become the department’s 31st K-9 officer.
“This is not tax-funded. It’s funded all by donations; … we don’t start off in the red,” Carroll said.
More than $11,000 in donations came from businesses, organizations and area residents who wanted to help the state police add another dog to the team.
The Allen County Drug and Alcohol Consortium was the largest donor at $5,200.
Startup costs are the biggest price for the program, with $6,000 needed to buy Deezle. Veterinary and equipment costs will continue and so will fundraising efforts, not to mention the money Carroll pays from his own pocket.
He is assigned to the Fort Wayne state police post, but LaGrange and Steuben counties are his primary patrol areas.
Aside from being called to help with searches of buildings and vehicles or look for missing people, Carroll said his day-to-day responsibilities won’t greatly change, but his horizons have broadened with the addition of his new partner.
Narcotics detection, building and article searches, aggression control and tracking are among the areas in which Deezle is trained.
