Butler police to use $30,000 donation for K-9 unit
Leanne Heaton has been around dogs since she had one as a child living with her father, Robert R. Heaton.
When Heaton became responsible for “disposing” of $30,000 from a family trust to maintain its charitable status, she had a hard time finding a cause to donate to. She decided in September to donate the money from the Glenn R. Logan and Rhea Jean McCandless Logan Family Trust to the Butler Bureau of Police K-9 department, a recipient she said her dad could appreciate.
“He was definitely a dog person, so I think it would have appealed to him,” Heaton said.
Heaton announced the donation Thursday at a meeting of Butler City Council. As part of the terms of the donation, Heaton asked that the money be placed in a fiduciary account to be used specifically to purchase and train replacement dogs when the two in the department retire.
Lt. Brian Grooms, who handles Chooch, one of two K-9 officers at the Butler Bureau of Police, said police dogs are trained at Pittsburgh’s police training center. Dogs go through four months of training before they can work in the department, and they continue to attend “maintenance” training every two weeks, according to Grooms.
“We’ve been running on donated money ever since, and since then, we’ve had some large, unexpected expenses,” Grooms said in August. “I’d like to get enough to keep the program going at least 20 more years. (The dogs) don’t get used every day, but when you need them, it’s good to have them.”
The department’s two K-9 officers, Chooch and Rico, started in 2020 and went through the training to be certified as police dogs. Grooms said the program costs about $15,000 to $20,000 annually.
Among the biggest expenses are the two special vehicles the department purchased when the K-9 program started and food for the dogs. Grooms said the donations also fund a stipend for himself and the other K-9 handler, Andrew Niederlander, which mostly goes toward food and special veterinarian care for the dogs.
Heaton said she is happy to support a program that not only keeps dogs happy, but keeps them in service of their purpose in law enforcement.
“K-9 officers are heroic, they exist to serve,” Heaton said. “They serve as protectors of the public, their handlers, search and rescue operations and enforcing the law.”
