EPHRATA – The Grant County Sheriff’s Office is currently in the process of purchasing a drug detection K-9 for use both inside the Grant County Jail and for deployment into the field.  

"The addition of a drug detection K-9 not only adds safety for inmates and jail employees but also helps improve the quality of professional service our corrections staff delivers to the community," said Phil Coats, Chief Deputy of Corrections, in a statement from GCSO. "This enhancement will start at the existing jail and will move with us as we enter our new jail in 2026." 

The K-9 is being funded in part by settlement money received from Washington state lawsuits filed against three U.S. opioid-distribution companies for their role in the opioid epidemic. GCSO is investing nearly $28,000 to purchase the K-9, train it and its handler and provide opioid overdose-reversal kits.  

“They are in the process of purchasing the dog. They are working on matching a canine with Deputy Seth Hinkle,” GCSO Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman said.

Once the dog is purchased, it will be trained and certified, Foreman said. The K-9 will detect heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines and fentanyl that may be smuggled into the jail.  

On Aug. 12, 2018, an inmate died of acute morphine intoxication inside of the Grant County Jail.  

“We have since then purchased a full body scanner and mail scanner to help close off those routes of smuggling into the jail,” Foreman said. “We have learned that we need to have a multi-pronged (approach to) finding and cutting off the path that drugs enter the jail. The drug detection K-9 is trained to do facilities, so inside the jail or other buildings. Outside of a structure, we will also be able to examine vehicles.”  

Foreman said any type of dog can be certified as a drug-detection K-9. Dogs used in drug detection must have the ability to prey, hunt, retrieve, follow odors, be active and trainable.  

GCSO currently has two Patrol K-9s who aid in tracking people and helping with arrests. The drug K-9 will not be used for this purpose but could be used for helping investigators conduct drug investigations in buildings, vehicles and outside areas, Foreman said. Previously, from 2009 to 2016 GCSO had a drug detection K-9, Maddox.  

Maddox did the same thing the upcoming K-9 will do, which is detection in buildings and vehicles, but not humans.  

“Seth Henkel is the K-9’s handler, and so to properly care for the dog, the dog will need a shelter, a concrete pad for a kennel, funding for food and medical care,” Foreman said. “The K-9 will live with Henkel, just like any of our other K-9s.”  

He said those needs are not funded by the money received from the settlement. GCSO is seeking support from the public to help purchase those items. To contribute to the cause, visit the Columbia Basin Foundation donation page at bit.ly/3Lfrlyf and specify the donation is for the Correctional Narcotics Investigative Team. Donations can also be made in person at the Columbia Basin Foundation office at 101 Basin St. NW in Ephrata.  

Foreman said they are hoping to have the K-9 trained and ready to begin work by early to mid-2026. 

“We are in the early stages of canine selection, matching the K-9 with its handler, training the handler and K-9 together and all of those will take several weeks,” Foreman said. “I would expect to see the K-9 in service doing its job in 2026.”