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At Monday’s Hamblen County Commission Committees Meeting at the Courthouse, Deputy Paul Pressley presented an offer to outfit the HCSO and the school system with a Certified Bomb Dog.

Pressley, an SRO for Russellville Elementary School, has 19 years of law enforcement experience, with 14 years being as a K-9 handler.

He is also a U.S. Army combat veteran participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom in which he helped to recover Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), or “Roadside Bombs,” as termed by the President George H.W. Bush administration.

“I’ve personally witnessed what these devices can do to the residents, schools and churches in a small community like ours,” Pressley said. “I’ve seen a lot of turmoil go on, but the proposal I have to place a single-purpose explosive detection dog with the HCSO and the school system. The current situation that we have is that (both) rely on the services of the Morristown Police Department. A threat in any place (requires) calling in MPD. You have a little bit of time lapse.

Depending on structure size, other K-9 crews from Jefferson County and others may be called in, Pressley said. He said that the dogs in Jefferson City are looking upon their senior years near retirement.

“This county is sitting right now without an explosive detection dog,” Pressley said. “What happens when we get those threats? As law enforcement officers, we contain the area and then pretty much sit on it. This is going to increase our time. We have kids on our football fields waiting to get back into school, you have other officers who are trying to best determine to clear the structure. With us not having this asset in our toolbelt, this is going to increase wait time for ours.”

Pressley said that getting a bomb dog is a one-time cost for the county. Cost for a highly-trained K-9 is between $21,000 to $120,000. The lower cost will get a dog that “doesn’t know its own name,” according to Pressley. The high end is your celebrity protection dogs.

In addition, a handler must train 240 hours with its partner K-9, Pressley said. That cost is around $6,500 and is required by the State of Tennessee. During training, the agency will lose eight or nine weeks of service from the deputy.

“I want to do what I can to help my community,” Pressley said. “I have a one-and-a-half-year-old Belgian Malinois named Grimm whom I purchased from Mike Suttle of Logan Haus Kennels in West Virginia because I like these dogs. I have trained this dog myself since he was a puppy through obedience, explosive detection and minor protection work.”

Suttle provides a two-year working guarantee on his puppies, Pressley said.

Grimm has shown the drive and capabilities for that of a bomb dog.

The dog would be utilized not only for the county and the school system, but for all areas where Hamblen County has a mutual aid agreement.

Pressley suggested that a 2015 Dodge Ram pickup truck that he drives be reequipped as a K-9 vehicle, including transport cage and a heed alarm to make certain the dog has heat or air conditioning while there. Cost of the cage and alarm is $3,899.90 with the price of the Heed alarm being $1,114.99. Yearly certification fees are $100. Total cost is $5,114.89. The state requires 16 hours of training per month with the K-9, Pressley said.

Grimm is trained on more than 15 odors of explosive materials and is ready to go in bomb detection. He is current on vaccinations and is microchipped for identification. Grimm helps Pressley at Russellville and he is kid-friendly. Grimm is very interactive around children and others.

“I believe it would be beneficial to have him,” Pressley said. “When going to get a dog, you’re talking weeks and months of training at a minimum cost of $50,000, plus equipment costs for a vehicle and a cage.”

Finance Committee Chairman Rodney Long agreed that most of the time that students would be spending outside of their facility in the winter season would be to secure a dog to search the school for bomb components.

“At West High, it’s going to take a while to clear that building,” Long said.” “If you had two dogs, one for the city and one for the county, you could start on both ends and probably clear it.”

Mayor Chris Cutshaw said that the money could come from the fund balance, via budget amendment, or opioid abatement money.

Pressley said that he sees a typical K-9 life as 10 years.

The committee agreed to take the $7,114.89 budget amendment for Grimm’s deployment in Hamblen County to the County Commission at the March 19 meeting.