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Partners against crime
New police dog takes Campbell Police Department by storm
By Jeanne Starmack
CAMPBELL
Storm would like to be a whirlwind.
Like other young dogs, the 2-year-old Belgian malinois is eager to be active. He’s headstrong sometimes and happy to have attention. He still play-bites — that habit of puppyhood that seems to linger longest as dogs become adults.
“No nips,” his handler, Campbell Patrol Officer John Gulu, said sternly one recent day while showing him off at the police station.
Unlike most other dogs though, Storm has a job to do. When he climbs into the back of Campbell’s K-9 cruiser, Gulu said, he takes the distinction of being the city’s first police dog quite seriously. No more play. He’s all business.
Storm began work July 12. The department didn’t spend a dime of the city’s money on him, either, Gulu proudly pointed out. Storm is the result of a campaign that raised more than $20,000 in donations so that Campbell no longer has to call for dogs from other police departments.
His food is free with vouchers from Pet Supplies Plus in Boardman.
The K-9 cruiser was a donation as well, from the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority. The department had it fitted with a backseat kennel and a Hot-N-Pop system that sounds an alarm if the car gets too hot or opens the door from a remote in an emergency.
Gulu, 33, has been with the Campbell department for four years. He trained with Storm, an import from Holland, for five weeks at Tri State Canine in Warren.
A dual-purpose dog, meaning he is trained to find narcotics and search for people, Storm made his first drug find — pills and marijuana — at a traffic stop the first week he was with the department.
When he’s not at work, Storm lives with Gulu’s family.
Though Gulu’s five kids are fond of the dog, he is not really a pet, Gulu said. He has a kennel and a run outside the house.
Gulu said he also enjoys how happy it makes other kids to see the dog.
“He’s a good community-policing tool,” he said, adding that his work with Storm has been interesting and exciting.
“It’s something I always wanted to do,” he said.
He will continue to train with the dog at least once a month, and the department is planning more fundraising to pay for that training, he said.
“We’re going to do some T-shirts come fall,” he said.