Capistrano Animal Rescue Effort Supports OCSD K9 Unit

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Capistrano Animal Rescue Effort (CARE) Foundation donated $20,000 to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department as it looks to bolster the agency’s K9 unit.

During the San Juan Capistrano City Council’s meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 17, CARE board members presented OCSD deputies with the check to support the creation of an in-house scent detection unit.

“This evening, CARE would like to assist the Orange County Sheriff K9 unit package with all of the things they’re doing, and in order to do that, board member Angela Duzich is here to present the group with some financial assistance,” CARE Treasurer Phillip Schwartze said during the meeting.

San Juan Capistrano residents launched CARE in 1999, looking to save city dogs and cats that were without a home.

CARE launched and ran San Juan Capistrano’s annual car show until the local Rotary took it over. Since then, CARE has converted to a foundation that funds other animal rescue activities, most recently donating $5,000 to the Lanai Cat Sanctuary.

Duzich noted that years ago, CARE had supported OCSD with bullet-proof vests for their K9s. Several months ago, CARE was looking for organizations to endow with grant funds and spoke with Deputy George Townsen about the need for a scent detection training program within the department.

“These dogs will be trained to sniff out heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, methyl-ethyl, bad stuff, other illicit drugs, and it’s really needed in today’s world,” Duzich said. “The K9 unit will not only benefit San Juan Capistrano, but it will benefit all of Orange County and hopefully save lives.”

Capistrano Animal Rescue Effort members present Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputies with a check for $20,000 to bolster the department’s K9 units and support the creation of an in-house scent detection unit. Photo: Breeana Greenberg

“This is only a win-win thing, and CARE is going to pay for $20,000 of K9 tactical equipment for the detection unit,” Duzich continued.

Townsen, who oversees nine patrol dogs, noted that the K9s work as both scent detection and apprehension.

“This money goes a long way in developing our own scent detection unit,” Townsen said. “We currently contract with a vendor outside of our department who trains all of our dogs. This money will go towards some of the equipment and necessary training aids so that we can imprint our dogs on any odor that we need at the time and we don’t have to go to an outside source.”

OCSD works with a reserve lieutenant with 40 years of animal training experience, Townsen explained.

“He’s going to come in, and we’re going to start our own scent detection program, and hopefully we can build it to where outside agencies can also use us and we can build out this program,” Townsen said.

“We appreciate the assistance from the CARE foundation,” Townsen said.

OCSD Deputy David Leathers said the donations bolster K9 training.

“So, it not only helps our dogs get up to speed faster, but it also helps us to get our dogs on the street and be more prepared to find narcotics, or train the dogs up to do their jobs better, which overall helps the community,” Leathers said.

Having a strong K9 unit is especially important during an “epidemic of narcotics,” Leathers said.

“In the community right now, we obviously have an epidemic of narcotics, and our role as the sheriff’s department is to try and help prevent people from overdosing on drugs,” Leathers said. “Fentanyl is one of the most dangerous things that we’ve seen in the last couple of years, so we want to try and take as much of that off the streets as possible.”

“If we can do our training in-house with more advanced trainers,” Leathers continued, “then we are just ahead of the curve where we can help get those narcotics off the street, ultimately trying to save lives.”

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