Manteca Bulletin (California)
LATHROP, Calif. - Thanks to K-9 officers like Deputy Ryan Biedermann, communities such as Lathrop have that added layer of protection provided by their trained canine partners.
And thanks to the Central Valley Top Dog Club of Lathrop, San Joaquin County’s youngest city is in the enviable position of having a staunch friend and ally in the fight against crime. The Top Dog Club has demonstrated that support over and over again in the few years it has been in existence. Lathrop Police canines like Deputy Biedermann’s Nikko have had an extra layer of protection while on duty, thanks to the bullet-proof vests donated by the club.
Most recently, the nonprofit organization continued its mission to help “our canine friends” when they surprised Biedermann with a $2,000 check donation. The occasion was the Lathrop Rotary’s meeting. Biedermann was the invited guest speaker and he gave a talk about his experiences as a canine officer.
What prompted that generous gesture by the Top Dog Club was a near-tragic incident involving Biedermann’s canine partner. Club members learned that a week before the meeting, Nikko was seriously injured in the line of duty. While Biedermann was making an arrest, the suspect fled and the dog quickly went in hot pursuit. But as Nikko was running across the street, it was hit by a hit-and-run driver and sustained significant injuries. Miraculously, the brave canine made a full recovery and was back on duty in no time at all.
But that’s just the tip of the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the full story of canine officers like Biedermann and their four-legged partners are concerned. As the Top Dog Club members found out, K-9 officers have to use their own money to purchase a dog and to have them trained. Only after they are trained, and are ready and certified to officially go to work do the dogs get some monetary assistance from the Sheriff’s Department. Those compensations include vet bills, dog food and “any costs associated with the dog,” explained Lt. Dolores Delgado of the Lathrop Police Department.
“Once the canine is certified, he basically becomes an employee of the county, so if the dog gets hurt, the county pays the bill,” she said.
Canine officers like Biedermann, for their part, are compensated three hours every week for the time they spend training their canine partners at home and for their care and maintenance, Delgado said. The officers’ compensation comes in the form of three hours of regular pay.
What may be unknown to many is that obtaining a canine and having it trained cost thousands of dollars with all that money coming from the officer’s own wallet. Top Dog Club members learned, for example, that Biedermann spent $8,000 of his own money to purchase and train Nikko with none of it reimbursed by the Sheriff’s Department.
It was for this reason Top Dob Club founders Ann Doyle, Linda Bradshaw, Gloria and Gloria Patchin, and Cindy and Tony Martin decided to donate the $2,000 as a way to help Biedermann recoup his costs.
Delgado said there are a number of ways that a K-9 officer can obtain a canine partner. One way is for the dog to be donated to the Sheriff’s Foundation. Sometimes, it’s a combination of fund-raisers and out-of-pocket contributions. However, there are officers like Biedermann who don’t even have to wait for that.
“Ryan went out of his way” to obtain the dog a year ago, Delgado said.
By so doing, Biedermann did the police force and the community at large a really big favor, to say the least. Not only that, even before his selection as a canine handler, Biedermann volunteered to start training on his own.
“So we were months ahead,” up to eight months ahead, of having a second canine on duty, Delgado said.
“It saved us a lot of headaches,” she said.
She described Nikko as a Dutch shepherd, “very, very well suited for this kind of work.”
Nikko actually has the potential to be both an apprehension and a bomb-sniffing dog, but right now the department is using it just for apprehension, Delgado said.
Lathrop’s other canine currently on duty is Raider who has been Deputy Vincent Chunn’s partner for two years.
The city’s two canines have not been the only recipients of the Top Dog Club’s generosity. The nonprofit organization, which is currently working on establishing an off-leash dog part in Lathrop, has also donated bullet-proof vests for the police departments in Stockton and Manteca.
“They were incredibly generous. It was just incredible, very overwhelming,” Delgado said of the Top Dog Club’s donation.
As for Biedermann, “he was thrilled,” she said.