toledoblade.com -- The Blade ~ Toledo Ohio

ERIE - It's not too many cops who can say they recovered enough drugs and drug money to more than pay their own way on the force.

Actually, Erie Township's rookie police officer can't say that either. But she would, if she could talk.

Bella, an 18-month-old Czech-bred German shepherd who joined the Erie Township Police Department in early October, has been responsible for taking more than $30,000 worth of drugs off the street, putting at least three dealers behind bars, and seizing $11,000 in cash and two vehicles.

Not bad for her first month on the street.

"She's great. She's paid for herself in the first month 10 times over," said Bella's partner, Erie Township Police Chief Bill Hines. "She finds stuff that we might never pick up on, and she hits on it right away."

Earlier this year, township board members agreed to allow Chief Hines to purchase Bella for $4,000, which included the cost of her obedience and narcotics training. The dog now lives with Chief Hines full time and patrols with him daily.

The chief said his new partner and her nose for narcotics has been amazing. He recounts stories of two recent stops, one where she hit on a vehicle carrying cocaine with a street value of about $9,000, and another a stop in which police seized heroin with a street value of about $20,000.

"The heroin was stuffed up [behind the dashboard] in several plastic bags, and she found it right away. And the cocaine was wrapped in socks inside a sealed suitcase inside a sealed car, and she hit on it from the outside of the vehicle," Chief Hines recalled.

The department has also confiscated well over $20,000 in cash and property from the drug stops, money that is used to further narcotics enforcement efforts locally, the chief said.

Erie Township Supervisor Paul Mikels said he couldn't be happier about the addition of Bella to the township police department and the impact she's already had locally.

"I think [the dog's] been a wise decision. She's taken a number of drug dealers off the street, taken drugs off the street before they get sold," Mr. Mikels said.

Bella "was something that [Chief Hines] had thought about doing for some time when an opportunity came available to get a drug dog that was well trained, and the timing was right, and I think the results have proven him correct."

Chief Hines said he and Bella will continue to concentrate their patrols away from I-75, where other agencies like the Michigan State Police and the Monroe County Sheriff's Office concentrate many of their larger anti-narcotics efforts. In the meantime, he said he'll continue to watch as his rookie partner matures into a drug-hunting machine.

"She's still got a lot of puppy in her," Chief Hines said.

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