Thursday night was week 10 of the Bellefontaine Police Department’s Citizen’s Academy.
Officer Jerrod Hostetler and his K9 Boodik were the stars of the night. Explaining to the class the role that Boodik plays within the city, Officer Hostetler talked about the day-to-day life of living with a police dog. Hostetler is the primary caregiver for Boodik on and off the job.
Through many grants and community contributions, Boodik, a Belgian Malinois, was imported from Czechoslovakia. Boodik came to BPD at the hefty price of $25,000. The cost included a specialized climate-controlled car, designed specifically for K9 use, and many hours of training for both Boodik and Hostetler. Boodik and Hostetler are certified in:
- Criminal Apprehension
- Handler Protection
- Building Search
- Area Search
- Tracking
- Evidence Recovery
- Narcotics Detection
Intense ongoing training for both Boodik and Hostetler is a must. In the last 2.5 years, the pair has seized numerous firearms, large sums of cash, and multiple felony drug seizures of cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, crack, heroin & fentanyl. Together they have had 38 criminal apprehensions with only one bite. Crimes from those criminal apprehensions included shootings, stabbings, homicide, armed robberies, kidnapping, rape, negligent homicide/ manslaughter, felonious assault, domestic violence, felony warrants, and parolees at large.
K9 Boodik is equipped with a bullet/stabproof vest which he always wears and is lightweight and breathable. The vest was purchased with funds from a grant from the Logan County Electric Cooperative. Boodik also wears a tracking harness/collar that has an IR Beacom for helicopter/drone thermal imaging cameras. The cameras are able to track Boodik.
Boodik will celebrate his 5th birthday next week.
Officer Hostetler explains what a typical day looks like for him and Boodik and what their community involvement looks like:
Next week is an off week for the BPDCA, however, they will return on April 20th for a firearms simulator and then will wrap up classes at the firearm range on April 27. The BPD will hold a graduation for the class at the Logan County History Center on May 4th.
