New sheriff’s K-9 unit is no buddy to drug traffickers

There’s a new officer in the Boundary County Sheriff’s Office: a Labrador named Buddy, partnered with Corporal Michael Valenzuela.

Buddy is a single-purpose narcotics K-9 who searches for heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana. Buddy is 14 months old and is still learning with partner Valenzuela, who expects Buddy will serve the community for about 10 years.

Valenzuela was a former handler who has completed a 160-hour course that required a week of all-day training.

Initially, Buddy spent about four months in training and came from Pacific Coast K9, a privately owned training facility with more than 50 years of experience in narcotics, explosive and cadaver detection.

According to Valenzuela, Buddy has only been active for a month but has quickly garnered success in identifying narcotics that have led to arrests.

Buddy has over 50 deployments and 40 “alerts” for drugs, all of which were verified. The result has been 39 charges as Buddy has teamed up with Boundary County Sheriff deputies, Bonners Ferry Police and Idaho State Police.

“His first deployment was an alert and we found meth and marijuana in the car,” Valenzuela said, “He’s getting a lot of work in.”

Long term Valenzuela hopes to conduct more outreach within the community and provide a positive image that law enforcement is kind and cares for the community.

According to Boundary County Sheriff Dave Kramer, “Buddy is an excellent tool that is going to help us keep some drugs out of our community and hold those responsible.”

Kramer wants to build on the success of the K-9 unit program and has already suggested the community has, in the past, seen food donations and veterinarian services provided.

“We want the K-9 team to be in our schools to go through and keeping drugs out of our school,” Kramer said. “Buddy is a lovable dog but a hard worker.”

The funding to train and acquire Buddy comes from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation, through a grant proposal made by Kramer which will provide about $10,000 in funding.

BNSF representative Courtney Wallace stated, “Our focus is on communities in our 28-state network and we review grants that make a material impact on these communities. We have a long-standing partnership with the Sheriff’s Department and are grateful we are able to help support the new K-9 unit.”

According to BNSF representative, “the BNSF foundation loves to do things like this for law enforcement and is always looking for opportunities to partner with groups such as the Sheriff’s department.”

The Boundary County Sheriff’s Office also funded a new K-9 unit vehicle with some features that protect Buddy. The K-9 unit vehicle is designed to include a heat alarm that will lower windows, turn on fans, and alert Valenzuela.

“It’s a great tool and literally a lifesaver for Buddy,” Valenzuela said.

Buddy and Valenzuela share a close bond through training and living together. Valenzuela says his family is excited to have a dog in the household; Buddy shall remain with the Valenzuela family, even after the dog’s retirement.

Valenzuela had a very stark warning for would-be drug traffickers, “Don’t bring your narcotics in this county … Buddy will find it.”