A community’s best friend
Burnsville Police Department seeks donations to maintain K-9 program
Officer Ben Archambault and Echo are members of the Burnsville Police Department’s K-9 Unit. The police are hoping to raise $20,000 to pay for the replacement of two dogs. Photo by Aaron Vehling
by Aaron Vehling
Thisweek Newspapers
Officer Echo is like a lot of people: When he gets home from work, he finds solace in some R and R and spending time with his family.
But unlike most people, he sleeps in a kennel and drinks his water from a bowl on the floor.
Echo is the Burnsville Police Department’s latest member of the K-9 unit. He joined the department and was paired up with his handler, Officer Ben Archambault, six months ago.
The 15-month-old Echo replaces Stryker, who retired this year. Another dog will retire next year, which creates a spending obligation of more than $22,000 to purchase, train and maintain two fully functional, professional police dogs.
To stave off cuts in the department that would affect the K-9 program or other aspects of public safety, the police have asked the public for donations.
So far the police have raised $18,000 with a goal of $20,000, said Detective Sgt. Bentley Jackson, who was a handler himself in the K-9 unit at Burnsville for seven years. Many residents have included notes along with their donations.
“It’s great to get those notes,” he said. “It’s nice to get our work noticed.”
Slovakia
The Burnsville Police Department, like many of its neighboring agencies, purchases its German Shepherds from and trains them at the St. Paul Police Department’s nationally renowned canine academy, which in turn buys the dogs from breeders in Eastern Europe, Jackson said. Echo came from Slovakia.
The dogs do not come ready to bust perps, though.
When a police department purchases a dog, Jackson said, it is buying “genetics and a work ethic.”
So in February Archambault and Echo spent 12 weeks, Monday through Friday, at the canine academy, building trust in one another and providing Echo with the skills necessary to be an effective police dog.
Echo has been on active duty with Archambault from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. since early June.
Among the primary skills Echo learns are locating and tracking measures.
“He can track people, conduct building searches and find guns and knives,” Archambault said.
Another feat at which all canine officers excel is sheer defense.
Archambault said that at most times Echo is on his leash, which is often enough.
“In reality, a majority of people give up (evading police) when they see a dog,” Archambault said.
Becoming a handler in the K-9 unit is more than just taking on another task or getting a promotion: It is a vocational move.
“It is a real commitment,” Jackson said. “You are working 24/7, including the night shift. It takes a toll on the handlers.”
Archambault agrees.
“We train every night,” he said.
Friend, partner
Echo lives with Archambault and his wife and two children. At home, he’s a pet, a companion and friend.
“There’s no training at home,” Archambault said. “We just have fun.”
His kids play with Echo and by some appearances the dog is just another pet. But when Archambault suits up for his shift, he said, Echo knows instantly what is on the docket.
When Echo retires in about five to seven years, he will live the remainder of his life with the Archambault family, the officer said.
K-9 units typically work night shifts because the need for the dogs’ skills is just greater at that time, Archambault said.
He was OK with this, though, he said, because he had been working on the department’s SWAT unit during the same night shift for years.
To become a K-9 handler, Archambault had to endure a battery of tests and interviews. When he initially applied for the position in 2004, he did not get it.
“At that time I had the least seniority of the applicants,” he said.
But when he applied this year he was the most senior. On top of that, said Jackson, who heads the K-9 unit, Archambault demonstrated a drive and demeanor suitable for the position.
“We look for a good, balanced approach to police work,” Jackson said.
Archambault has long aspired to join the K-9 unit.
“I have always loved dogs,” he said.
When he was a community service officer in Apple Valley in 1998, a handler asked him to help out the K-9 unit there. Archambault served as a “decoy,” he said, helping to train the dog.
“I thought it was the greatest thing,” he said. “From that point on I was hooked.”
One recent memorable incident for Archambault was a case of fugitives in Eagan. Echo tracked and recovered two suspects over a distance of nearly two miles.
In the coming months, Echo will be crosstrained in narcotics detection. So not only will he be able to smell fear, Echo will also have the ability to sniff out a hidden marijuana stash.
Donate
For Archambault, he has not only gained a new family member and partner, he has gained a bodyguard as well.
“He’s always got me,” Archambault said.
The police department is still taking donations for the K-9 program. Call (952) 895-4600 or donate online at www.burnsville.org.
E-mail Aaron Vehling at aaron.vehling@ecm-inc.com.
The K-9 units are awesome, and a real asset for our police department.
The idea that even 5 minutes of our police officers time should be spent begging for donations is incredibly sad. Worse, they are trying to get 20,000 for something so central to an essential public service, while our Mayors pet project, the Burnsville Performing Arts Center is loosing nearly 1 MILLION DOLLARS a year. That 1,000,000 or our local tax dollars going to fund the mayors pet project, while our police officers are forced to spend time begging donations to fund an essential public service.
Our Mayor and city council should be ashamed of themselves.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Roy. It’s sad that our public safety is seen as less of a priority than the Mayor’s pet projects. Unless it betters her own neighborhood (i.e. flower baskets from every lamppost) then she doesn’t seem to be interested. The PAC should be a self-sustaining BUSINESS in light of the fact that it’s a boondoggle for this community. Put it up for sale and let a private entity run it for profit and get it off Burnsville’s books once and for all. It’s too small to be of use for any major money-making events anyway. Poorly conceived, terribly executed.