By: Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
The Bucyrus Police force gained a new four legged companion Friday afternoon as K-9 officer Rosco was sworn in at City Hall.
At 2:30 pm Friday afternoon Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser swore in 18 month old K-9 Rosco with his police handler Officer David Rowland inside Council Chambers at Bucyrus City Hall.
Prior to swearing in Rosco, Mayor Reser noted that today was a good day for the city.
“It is a happy day for Bucyrus any day that it is a good day for the Police Department is a good day for the city,” Recer said.
Police Chief David Koepke explained what some of Rosco’s duties will be as an officer.
“He’s trained in building searches, article searches, some tracking, and suspect apprehension, and he can sniff several types of narcotics,” Chief Koepke said.
Officer Rowland explained what training he went through with his new partner.
“It was very good, very thorough; very intensive. It was a lot of science and theory that we had to learn through the trainer. He was trained through Tri-State K-9 with trainer Dave Glosser; awesome experience, very knowledgeable guy. He produced a great dog, his training program was awesome,” Officer Rowland said. “The dog made it easy. He was a very receptive dog, very quick learning dog, so it was a very good experience for me.”
Rosco will take over K-9 officer duties from Amigo, who passed away Thursday, June 4.
Prior to Rosco’s swearing in Captain Neil Assenheimer was awarded the first Chief Phillip Trout award for his work with Amigo who served on the force for over 6 years.
Assenheimer reflected on his time working with Amigo.
“It was the best, it was a lot of fun. I felt we did a lot of good. We took a lot of drugs off the streets,” Assenheimer said. “He was definitely more useful than just having a patrol car by myself.”
“I think that Rosco will be a very good dog,” Assenheimer continued. “I think you will be hearing his name a lot.”