Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz: Marijuana law changes impacting procedures and K-9s

ZANESVILLE − Changes to recreational marijuana laws in the State of Ohio will not mothball the K-9 division of the Muskingum County Sheriff's Office, according to Sheriff Matt Lutz.

A bill being considered in the Ohio State Legislature would provide law enforcement agencies across Ohio up to $20,000 per dog to offset the cost of acquiring, training and equipping narcotics dogs that don't alert to the smell of marijuana. This means nearly 400 Ohio police dogs trained in the detection of marijuana could be retired if they can't be retained.

This is related to last fall's election when voters approved the growing, possession and use of recreational marijuana for those age 21 and older.

Lutz said the law change has already had a major impact on the use of dogs that are trained to detect marijuana. His office has had to change some techniques and procedures. How diminished the role of dogs for drug searches has not been determined yet, he said.

Lutz said he has one officer that will be leaving the department and the dog he's paired with might be sold. Lutz said it's an older dog who is trained to find marijuana and it might be best for the K-9 to go to an experienced handler in a state where marijuana is still illegal.

"We hold the K-9 division in a very high regard and they are very important to our success in taking drugs and criminals off the street. They perform at a high level and contribute to the safety of our deputies," Lutz said.

Three of the departments five K-9s are multipurpose dogs trained in searching, tracking, article detection and apprehension along with drug detection. One dog is trained in all those areas, plus explosives detection. One K-9 officer, Cooper, is trained for drug detection only. Illegal narcotics the dogs can detect include cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl.

Manus is assigned to Sgt. Brodie Brewer, Crit is with Deputy Shawn Williams, Jango is partnered with Deputy Dustin Prouty, Panzer is assigned to Deputy Michael Wisecarver and Cooper is with Det. Sgt. Matt Wilhite.

Manus, Crit and Panzer all work normal shifts for the sheriff's office. Jango and Prouty are assigned to task forces that works in Muskingum and surrounding counties. Cooper is assigned to the drug unit and works with them on drug investigations.

"The K-9 division has been very beneficial. The drug detection allows us to find drugs that we normally wouldn't find to get them off of the streets," Lutz said. "The explosives dog helps with any type of bomb threats and anytime we are clearing buildings for the threat of explosives. The multi-purpose dogs have made many successful tracks, made numerous apprehensions and located many articles that we would have never found. They help keep deputies safer and help us do the job better."

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Marijuana law changes impacting procedures, K-9s at sheriff's office