Service dog for school resource officer gets approval from Tecumseh City Council

David Panian, The Daily Telegram

TECUMSEH — Providing a four-legged partner for Tecumseh's school resource officer received approval Monday from the Tecumseh City Council.

The Tecumseh Public Schools have been working on joining the Adrian and Madison schools in having a service dog to work with their school resource officer. Adrian's SRO, Joshua Perry, has pioneered the program, which uses a non-aggressive dog that can do some typical police dog tasks, such as sniffing out contraband or searching for people, but also be available for therapeutic needs of students and staff.

The Tecumseh school board voted last week to purchase a dog. On Monday, the city council voted 7-0 to amend the SRO agreement with the schools, pending satisfactory review of the amendment by the city attorney. The Tecumseh schools and police department worked out the amendment. City manager Dan Swallow told the council in the agenda review form that the amendment was presented Monday in order to get the dog into the schools as soon as practicable. The motion to approve the amendment allowed for minor changes to be made based on review of the agreement by the city attorney and school board.

Charlie, the Adrian school district's police and therapy dog, rolls over for a belly rub from sophomore Noah Judson, pictured with his sister, sophomore Claire Judson, Feb. 7 at Adrian High School. The Tecumseh City Council on Monday approved an amendment to its school resource officer agreement with the Tecumseh schools to allow their SRO to have a dog like Charlie.

The amended SRO agreement still needs to be approved by the school board.

Tecumseh's SRO, Scott Lambka, will be the dog's handler.

The schools will pay the city every year to cover the expected costs of caring for the dog and training for the dog and handler. That cost is expected to be just over $15,000 a year starting in 2025, mostly for overtime for the officer. For 2024, it will be prorated to about $10,000, according to the draft agreement. The agreement breaks down the expected costs:

  • Dog food: $50 per month; $600 annually.

  • Veterinary preventive care: $500 annually.

  • National Association of Professional Canine Handlers certification: $400 annually.

  • Handler overtime: 10 hours per month for dog care and 8 hours per month for training, or 216 hours annually.

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The total cost for the SRO program including the dog will be $139,674 in 2025 and $142,468 in 2026, according to the agreement. The schools were already paying for 75% of the cost of having an SRO. The dog's cost will be in addition to that.

"I'm glad to see that they're starting out with just the one dog," council member Ron Wimple said. "I know at one time they were talking possibly up to three dogs. I think this is a good start to see how it goes. If it's successful, maybe we can add an additional dog along with a person."

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Tecumseh City Council OKs dog for school resource officer

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