Grant County Sheriff's Office To Add Three New K9s By 2025

The K9 program at the Grant County Sheriff's Office will be fully supported by the organization's operating budget beginning next year.

The sheriff's office made the announcement in a social media post today (Tuesday, Dec. 19).

Since its inception in 2014, the K9 program has been run entirely on donations from the public, but the sheriff's office made the decision to move it under the financial auspices of the agency citing the success the program has had over the past nine years and how vital it is to community safety.

The move also comes in the wake of the sheriff's office losing three of the four K9s it began this year with to retirement in last six months.

The sheriff's office says it will purchase two K9s at the beginning of the new year, including one that will be paid for using the remaining money from the agency's donation fund, and the other which will be acquired with part of its regular operating budget for 2024.

The K9s are expected to cost approximately $18,000 each.

The two new dogs will be paired with handlers from the sheriff's office's current deputy ranks, and those chosen to work with the K9s will be trained through a partnership with the Moses Lake Police Department - a move that's expected to save the sheriff's office roughly $25,000 in costs.

In addition to the two dogs it expects to add next year, the sheriff's office says it's also planning to bring on another K9 in 2025.