Police Committee Pushes for Police Dogs

Members of the Haverford police committee made a presentation to the Board of Commissioners in favor of adopting a K9 police dog program in the township at the August commissioners meeting.

According to commissioner and police committee member Steve D'Emilio, a K9 unit in Haverford could lead to crimes solved in less time, as well as a more efficient means to finding lost individuals.

“[Our police] do a good job, but we could do better with a K9 unit,” he said. “We’re confident that a K9 unit would be beneficial to Haverford township.”

D’Emilio cited an increase in area burglaries as an area in which a K9 unit could help the town.

“There has been an increase in home invasions and burglaries in Ward 1,” he said. “We believe a K9 unit on location at some of these early break-ins may have lead to faster apprehensions.”

The program would cost approximately $10,000 a year to maintain, a number that police committee-member Chris Connell said is already in the police department’s budget.

Adopting a K9 program would bring Haverford closer to other area police forces, Connell said.

“Many Delaware county police forces, including Newtown Square and Upper Darby, already have these units,” he said. “Lower Merion and Philadelphia have them. The largest and second-largest townships in the state have these units. The fifth-biggest city in the country has dogs.”

The Commissioners took no action after the presentation.