Two new drug dogs hitting the streets in Dodge County



The Dodge County Sheriff's Department says drugs like heroin and meth are big problems there, even though it's a rural area, and now, they have two new weapons they're taking to the streets.

The new tools have helped sheriff's deputies make a lot of headway in the fight against drugs, in just the past few weeks.

"We have a drug problem here in Dodge County. There's a lot of heroin going around, and a lot of marijuana, obviously. The kids are smoking the synthetic drugs too, and it's a problem," Dodge County Sheriff's Deputy Gib Fairman said.

The Dodge County Sheriff's Department has two new drug dogs: Ziva and Paige, and they're hitting the streets with a lot of success.

"A couple weeks ago (Ziva) found 46 grams of marijuana, which is a lot more than personal use. Paige was able to locate 14 grams in a car, and that's turned out to be a big investigation," Deputy Fairman said.

During a traffic stop Sunday, the car's owner let Ziva sniff around, but Deputy Fairman doesn't need owner approval if he feels he has good reason to bring Ziva out.

Sunday, there was a positive hit, and the vehicle had to be searched. A backup squad car arrived on scene, and the driver told officers he recently purchased the vehicle off of Craigslist.

The officer located what is known as "shake," which is little green, leafy pieces that he says may have been marijuana, but let the driver go.

"It's what I call 'shake.' It's not enough to charge someone with, or give him a ticket, and I don't believe it was this kid's anyways. It probably had drugs in it when he bought it, and it's just residual odor left over," Deputy Fairman said.

There used to be drug dogs in three Dodge County police departments, but one recently passed away, and two others retired, so Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls thought it was time to fill the void, and attack a growing drug problem.

Ziva was found at the Dodge County Humane Society.