The City of Jeannette has pulled the plug on its K-9 program, with city officials citing "cost prohibitive" concerns amid an ongoing lawsuit over overtime pay. The shutdown comes off the back of claims by Sgt. James Phillips and Officer Matthew Painter, the handlers for K-9s Diesel and Kilo, for unpaid overtime linked to the care of their dogs – care which they aver took up to an hour extra each day, as reported by TribLive.
The decision has been met with dismay by local residents and business owners, among them Kathie Tanyer and Joanne Demonte who called the end of the program "uncalled for," their voices lending a personal element to the broader narrative of fiscal balancing painted by the city as a budgetary must, seems to fail to capture their feeling of loss according to WTAE. Bill Sombo, who has extensive experience with the K-9 unit through his work with Strategic Law Enforcement K-9 Training Incorporated, has suggested that the termination might be an act of retaliation.
While the city has assured that the affected canine, Diesel, will be "properly taken care of and rehomed," raising questions about the fate of the tens of thousands of dollars raised by the officers for the now-defunct K-9 program, as reported by WTAE.
