Grant to Fund New Bomb-Sniffing Dog for Kane County Sheriff's Office

By Amie Schaenzer

Photo Credit: Kane County Sheriff’s Office website

A safety grant will fund a new bomb-sniffing dog for the Kane County Sheriff’s Office.

The Spirit of Blue Foundation announced Monday it had awarded a $12,500 Safety Grant to the Kane County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) to acquire an explosives detection K9.

The new dog will replace K9 Geno, an 8-year-old German Shepherd that has been with the sheriff’s office since 2009, when he retired at the end of this year. Brian Gregory from Northern Michigan K9 will supply the K9 and will train the dog to work with a selected handler from the KCSO.

K9 Geno will continue to live with his handler, Deputy Bill Gatske, and his family in retirement.

Over his career, Geno has been involved in the 2009 LPGA Solheim Cup International Tournament held at Rich Harvest Farms near Sugar Grove, performed numerous dignitary and presidential protective sweeps and participated in sweeps before games at Soldier Field in Chicago.

He also conducted countless explosive detection searches, suspect apprehensions and missing person searches. Geno may be most remembered, though, for his appearances with local area children where he taught the value of policing and reinforced the fact that law enforcement officers exists to serve their community.

“It is always difficult when we approach the end of the career of any of our employees, but whenever we have the opportunity to partner with groups like Spirit of Blue and the Planet Dog Foundation to help offset costs to hire and train new employees, or in this case new four legged employees, it is a win-win situation for all involved,” said Kane County Sheriff Patrick B. Perez. “The ability to have K9 teams trained to find explosives are not something the public thinks about, but as a professional law enforcement organization it is an invaluable tool in our response plans.”

The Spirit of Blue Foundation actively encourages the public at large to honor and appreciate law enforcement officers who serve to protect our communities.

“The Planet Dog Foundation is proud to sponsor the great work of essential canine partners like Geno,” added Kristen Smith, Executive Director of the Planet Dog Foundation. “We welcome the opportunity to partner with the Spirit of Blue Foundation to offer needed grants to deserving agencies such as this.”