Bethel Police Department’s Sergeant William Charles and Zeus, a German Shepherd K9 Drug Detection dog have teamed up to serve the community of Bethel. Photo by Kelly Lincoln
Zeus, a 2-year old German shepherd, is Bethel’s newest officer – a drug sniffing dog trained to sniff out drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine.
Sergeant William Charles of the Bethel Police Department is Zeus’ handler and trainer. They arrived into Bethel this past September. On Friday October 20th, Zeus and Officer Charles did a meet and greet storytime and brown bag lunch at the Kuskokwim Campus hosted by the Kuskokwim Consortium Library.
Zeus is here straight from the Kip K-9 Academy in Alabama. He showed the folks his detection skills and did a demonstration. Teresa Quiner, the Librarian for the Kuskokwim Consortium Library volunteered to hide the package. Zeus and Officer Charles waited in the hallway.
Zeus was focused in action while he swept the room with his powerful smelling abilities. He found the package and alerted by laying down, the attendees appreciated the team for the successful demo. He was given a tug toy to play with for his reward.
Back in August 2022, the City of Bethel had an opportunity to apply for the FY 2022 Justice Assistance Grant, a formula grant for the City of Bethel’s Police Department in the amount of $14,170. The City of Bethel Police Department decided to pursue FY 2022 JAG funds for the purchase of a drug detection dog and handler/dog training.
“The Bethel Police Department and the City of Bethel are making a big commitment to purchase the dog, and assign an officer to work with the dog, care for the dog, and train with the dog. The use of a drug detection dog will help the Bethel Police Department and WAANT unit to take drugs off the street and therefore save lives, reduce drug-related violence, and ease the burden on families and friends associated with drug users and abusers,” stated Information Memorandum 22-16.
Former City Manager Peter Williams was the sponsor of IM 22-16.
The City of Bethel will contribute $10,180 in the first year to cover the cost of training, dog food, and dog supplies and equipment, states the memo. The City will pay all on-going expenses associated with dog care and training for years thereafter. A drug dog is expected to perform for ten years before being retired.
“The drug detection dog program will help us combat narcotics, foster community interaction, and help families torn apart by drug use,” said Acting Police Chief Jesse Poole in his remarks on the IM.
Children and their families posed for photos with Zeus and Sergeant Charles at the event last Friday. Community members expressed that they were thankful that Bethel now has a drug detection dog and were looking forward to start seeing a lot of arrests in the coming future.
