|
New Santa Paula Police Department K9 “Ace” |
SPPD’s Hozy, Zak, Ace: 6th Annual K9 Spaghetti Dinner April 29
April 08, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
The whole community is invited to put on the dog — specifically Hozy, Zak and Ace — at the 6th Annual K9 Spaghetti Dinner!
The top canine cops will be celebrated and put through their crime-fighting paces at the dinner to be held at the Community Center from 5:30 to 7 p.m. when the program starts.
Dinner-spaghetti and meatballs as well as side dishes will be served cafeteria style, which will also feature raffles and other fun activities for the whole family.
Tickets are only $15 for adults, $5 for children 12 years and younger (eat-in only is available for child plates) and easy takeout is only $15 each (remember: no child plates offered for takeout).
The program will be held in the west parking lot of the Community Center, located at 530 W. Main St.
A community tradition, the K9 offers the rare opportunity to interact with the canines and their handlers. Retiring K9 Hozy, partnered with Detective Randy Haumann will be lauded; on-duty Zak and human partner Sr. Officer Larry Johnson will be saluted and Ace, the newest addition to the SPPD K9 force just finishing up his training with partner Sr. Officer Allen Macias will be welcomed.
The K9s and their handlers will demonstrate how the dogs are trained and show their reactions in “real life” situations.
K9s are considered great crime-fighting assets — the dog can search a warehouse for a subject in a fraction of the time it would take an officer and suspects are known to often give up in lieu of a dog bite — as well as a great public relation tools for kids and adults alike.
“The annual K9 Spaghetti Dinner has become a community favorite, it’s always a fun evening, a great time to meet our dogs and their handlers,” said Dinner Committee Chairperson Debbie Johnson, treasurer of the Santa Paula Police & Fire Foundation, which sponsors the event with the help of generous supporters.
Johnson said a highlight of the evening is the demonstration by the K9s and their handlers as well as a well-padded volunteer “bad guy” that really lets the dogs’ show their crime-fighting stuff.
“It’s a real crowd pleaser, especially for the kids that also get to interact with the dogs and their handlers when they’re in their off-duty mode,” a contact that can have a positive lifelong impact on a child’s life.
Last year each table held collages of the SPPD K9s and handlers and the kids scrambled to get the officers to autograph them.
Johnson said fundraising is constant for the foundation’s K9 program that starts with the dog’s donation funded purchase and thereafter provides the police dogs with expensive but necessary training and equipment.
Not only can K9s be trained to serve as specialized Smell-O-Meters, detecting everything from explosives and narcotics to weapons but the dogs are also a great means of outreach including school campus visits where the dogs strut their cop stuff before playing with students.
“People love the dogs, I love the dogs!” said Johnson.
And the SPPD loves the dogs, which help the understaffed department with policing services before they head home with their handlers, their around the clock partner.
Johnson said the importance of the SPPD K9 program is also appreciated by local businesses many that are sponsors of the April 29 dinner.
Tickets are available at the Santa Paula Times, 120 Davis St., and at the Santa Paula Police Station, 214 S. 10th St. and at the door the night of the event.
