New Crime-Fighting Dog Recruited By Beaumont Police Department

BEAUMONT, CA — A new recruit is helping police tackle crime in Beaumont. This week, the Beaumont Police Department officially welcomed Murph — a Belgian Malinois — to the team.

The freshly initiated crime-fighting dog was born April 15, 2020, and his department assignments are underway. According to police, Murph — a patrol/detection canine — has four specific duties: suspect apprehension, suspect tracking, narcotics detection, and community involvement.

The benefits of having a patrol/detection canine include citizen and officer safety, increasing the likelihood of catching suspects, reducing the need to resort to deadly force, tracking fleeing suspects, and detecting narcotics, according to the department.

There's another benefit to the K-9 program — a lot of people love dogs, and that can help officers build trust in the community, according to many proponents of community policing.

"Canines are a positive tool for community policing as they draw attention and build positive relationships between the police department and our citizens," according to the Beaumont Police Department.

Beaumont Police Officer Crews, who has been with the department since 2016, is Murph's partner. The duo is working alongside Beaumont Police Cpl. Brieda and K-9 Mila. Since 2016, Brieda and Mila have served as part of the department's "detection" K-9 program.

The Beaumont Police Department has an ongoing fundraising effort underway to help pay for the K-9 program. A few ways to donate include purchasing K-9 unit merchandise, adding a donation amount when purchasing or renewing a City of Beaumont pet license, or any of the police department's other organized fundraising events, according to the department.

Indeed, a K-9 unit can be expensive. On April 6, the Beaumont City Council unanimously approved a proposal to expand the police department’s K-9 program to include a patrol/detection canine. With that approval, the police department was allowed to purchase and train a police dog with a budget not to exceed $32,000.

During the same City Council meeting, council members gave a unanimous green light to convert an existing fleet vehicle — a 2018 Chevy Tahoe — into a police dog vehicle with a budget not to exceed $6,500. As a replacement for the Tahoe, the department was approved to buy a 2021 Ford Police Interceptor with a spending limit of $37,000. To outfit the new Ford with emergency equipment, a mobile computer, and vehicle graphics, the city approved a budget of $21,400.

To read more about the expansion of the Beaumont Police Department's K-9 program, visit beaumontpd.org.