ROYAL CITY — The Royal City Police Department could increase its officer ranks by one, and the number of feet on the ground by four.

Moses Lake Police Department and the Grant County Sheriff’s Office both have K-9 officers at their disposal, Royal City Police Chief Rey Rodriguez said, and he would like to see one in Royal City as well.

“As the calls (for a K-9) come in, they’re usually in the Moses Lake area, because it’s the most populated,” Rodriguez said. “So what we’re planning on doing is getting a K-9 officer for Royal City, that would be available possibly for southern Grant County, since we're kind of secluded down here.”

The dog would belong to — and be paid for by — Royal City, but Rodriguez suggested it might be able to supplement the county’s K-9s, especially in places closer to Royal City than to Ephrata or Moses Lake.

“If the K-9’s coming from Moses Lake, they're at least an hour away,” he said. “If we respond and help out with the George area or the Quincy area, we're 20 minutes away, half an hour.”

RCPD Officer Hannah Soelter would be the dog’s handler, Rodriguez said, and she’s already been looking into the logistics of getting and maintaining a K-9. Rodriguez and Soelter presented the idea at the Royal City City Council’s Jan. 2 meeting.

The cost of buying and training a K-9 is about $30,000 Rodriguez told the council. But the GCSO will replace two retiring K-9s soon and train the new ones at a 10-week academy in Moses Lake, he said. If the RCPD were able to send its own dog with Soelter to that academy, it would save the city about $12,500. It would also free up Soelter, who would be driving back and forth from Moses Lake rather than staying in a hotel out of the area, to be available to help out if she were needed in Royal City, he added.

“This breeder that you have looked into, do they have dogs all the time?” asked Council Member Perla Garcia. “Or do you have to wait until the next litter?”

“You have to go to either California or Alabama, where the Grant County Sheriff's Office gets their dogs,” Soelter said. “They fly over and they actually pick the dog. (The supplier) is running dogs all the time. Grant County Deputy Jimenez and Officer Stewart from Moses Lake mentioned that they'd like to go down with us to help us get a dog because they're more experienced and know what to look for in the dog as well.”

The trip to buy a dog would take place in March or April, she said.

The cost of maintaining the four-legged officer would also fall on the city. Still, Soelter pointed out that other communities with K-9s often get donations from the community to help defray that cost.

Having a K-9 officer present has kept more than one police pursuit from turning dangerous, Rodriguez told the Columbia Basin Herald.

“The times that they have been on the scene, just the dog’s presence alone, I think, made the bad guy choose differently what he or she was planning on doing,” he said. “They would hear the big bark and say ‘Hey, nope, I'm giving up.’”

Joel Martin may be reached via email at [email protected].