Montville - After several months of discussion, the Public Safety Commission voted unanimously on Monday to request that the town purchase a police dog.

"We really could use a narcotics-trained dog in this town," said Sgt. Martin Martinez, the town's resident state trooper, at Monday's meeting.

"We have the casinos, a lot of traffic, motor vehicle stops all the time, and it'd be advantageous because we could seize money and vehicles," continued Martinez, who was answering the commission's questions about K-9 units.

The final decision on the issue rests with Mayor Ronald McDaniel, who said during the meeting that there is no money currently allocated for a police dog. Drug money seized by the town, however, has been put into a special fund. The police department can request that money from that fund be allocated to special items, explained McDaniel.

When Public Safety Commission Vice Chairperson Tom McNally asked if a K-9 unit could be one of those special items, McDaniel said, "I suppose it certainly could be."

McDaniel said on Wednesday that he was waiting to review the funding with Finance Director Terry Hart before making a decision.

The great advantage to obtaining a police dog would be seizures of money or vehicles, said Martinez. If such items are seized with a dog that came from another town, he said, the money would be split between the towns. If Montville has its own dog, the town can keep all the money.

The dog would cost $2,300, said Martinez. Other expenses associated with having a police dog include $450 per year for food, $355 for veterinary visits, $90 to mark a cruiser as having a K-9 unit and $160 to tint the cruiser's windows to keep the dog cool. The sergeant said he believed the dog would pay for itself.

The Public Safety Plan, a September 2012 report the town commissioned from Almont Associates, called the interest in purchasing a police dog a "want" rather than a "need" at that point in time.

"Budgets are too tight to support anything but 'needs' at the moment," said the report. It continued that when the department is ready to purchase a dog, it should be clear about the type of dog it wanted and the benefit to the community.

"I think a K-9 is an invaluable police tool," said commission member Eric Rousseau. "A dog is worth two officers as far as return."

Rousseau noted that the general public would not know what a dog was certified to do and that the presence of a K-9 officer would make people more compliant.

Some commission members asked about the possibility of obtaining a patrol dog or a dog that could be certified in multiple areas, Martinez said the department should just start with a Labrador retriever trained in narcotics because while Labs can be certified in both narcotics and explosives, "we have to take little steps."

He also spoke against the idea of buying a German shepherd, the only dog that can do patrol, at this point in time. "That can cause problems, bites, liability, lawsuits," Martinez said. Labs will just sniff around and are much less likely to create those issues, he explained.

Martinez said the dog should be trained by the state and that the state forensic chief should certify it for narcotics use. The state training and certification would require the state to testify if the dog bites anyone and would mean that the dog can be sent to other towns in the area if requested.

The dog would receive five weeks of training, and the officer associated with it would be trained for six weeks, Martinez said. The only cost for training would be travel and any overtime due to the officer being trained, he said.

k.catalfamo@theday.com