Update at bottom of article.
Effective Monday, August 8th the resignation of Deputy C.J. Myers was accepted, creating the debate regarding the custody of Siri, the K-9 unit that was trained for drug search with Deputy Myers and has gone to Spencer with him upon his hiring for the City of Spencer.
According to Sheriff Warren Basnett, his office has yet to find the paper work on the dog. After speaking to the Sheriff’s Association’s attorney, if the paper work says that the dog belongs to the Calhoun Sheriff’s Department, it is their property and should remain in the County. The dog was originally purchased through donations given to the Sheriffs Department. Through those donations and county funds, the county currently has over $20,000. invested into the dog. Sheriff Basnett doesn’t believe that the City of Spencer should be given a free K-9 Unit. I
Commissioner Walker questioned where the paper work was. Sheriff Basnett said that he had called Tracy Landis of St. Albans who trained the dog and she was supposed to be getting it to him. Walker also stated that he had been contacted by contributors to the dog’s purchase and they were upset that the dog had been taken from the County.
Commissioner Kevin Helmick said that Commissioner Michael Hicks had suggested that perhaps we could send a letter requesting that Officer Myers and the K-9 be made available to Calhoun when needed. But Commissioner Walker wants to do additional research on the matter.
Sheriff Basnett informed them that the dog is either in the name of the Calhoun County Commission, or the Calhoun Sheriff’s Department and suggested that if it was in the name of his department and they got rid of it he could have the commissioners arrested. “Spencer should either pay for the dog or return it,” Basnett said.
Commissioner Helmick recalled that this dog has been trained with another officer before, and it had to be given back to the academy and retrained, so it could be done again.
Larry Whited brought to the commissioners attention that perhaps in the future a contract could be drawn up to avoid situations such as this. Contracts for both the officer and the dog. When an officer is trained, a buy out can be done, having the cost of the animal in a buy out, for the dog and the officer.
Commission Walker reiterated that more research should be done and Helmick said that a letter would be written to see what Spencer would be willing to contribute for the dog. Sheriff Basnett agreed that it would be a lot easier to be reimbursed but if it became necessary he would agree to be trained with Siri and take the dog on himself. The $20,000 invested came from, $9200 to purchase the dog, $5,000 for a cage to be put in the car, vet bills and food all totaling above the $20,000.
This is a developing story.
UPDATE:
Ridgeview News was contacted by Chief Jeffrey Starcher of the Spencer City Police department who requested the following clarifications be made regarding this story:
City of Spencer requested the Title of the story be changed because there is no custody battle with the Town of Spencer. The matter is entirely between Sheriff Warren Basnett and CJ Myers, Resigned Deputy. The Spencer Department has never spoken with Sheriff Basnett, but upon the hiring of C.J. Myers, informed him that they would accept the canine, should it be transferred from the Calhoun County Sheriffs Department.
CJ Myers says that he spoke to the Calhoun County Commission and informed them that his new employer would write a letter saying they’d accept the canine if it would be transferred, which the City of Spencer did. No other agreement was made and the dog currently remains in the possession of C.J. Myers until it is determined what will be done.
