Newburgh Police K-9 “Bean” and five other dogs at the department are the subject of hot debate among city council members and police officers.

Some council members have said the current policy governing how to deploy K-9s promotes situations reminiscent of law enforcement tactics from decades past, and hurts the city financially.

The city’s officer in charge, Lt. Kevin Lahar, who is supervisor of the department’s six-dog K-9 unit, agreed that some policy changes are due.

Lahar invited Spectrum News to meet with “Bean” Monday morning.

What You Need To Know

  • Newburgh council members and the city’s top police leader agree the police department’s K-9 policy should be revisited

  • Officer in charge Lt. Kevin Lahar said he is reviewing the department’s current policy

  • Councilwoman Monteverde said she is hoping for movement on policy changes in the coming months

Bean, a German Shepherd who has been with the department six years, specializes in patrol and narcotics detection. Just like almost any other “good boy,” Bean enjoys tummy rubs and a good tug of war.

He is trained, though, to be a police partner, and springs into action with one command. The K-9s are trained to locate missing people or suspects, apprehend fleeing suspects, control crowds and detect drugs, Lahar explained.

He told Spectrum News it is time to change the department’s policy, especially for suspect apprehension. He said recent changes in state law have made many former offenses non-crimes, and he does not see any point in deploying a K-9 to give someone an appearance ticket.

“Under certain circumstances, an officer might have been permitted, or it may have been reasonable, to deploy their K-9 partner in an apprehension scenario to apprehend a subject who was wanted on those types of charges,” Lahar said of past uses of K-9s for apprehension. “It’s no longer prudent to do so.”

Ward 2 City Councilwoman Ramona Monteverde said Monday she is completely against using K-9s for any reason other than to detect drugs, though she is willing to compromise on policy changes.

One of her main reasons for her particularly strong opposition to K-9-involved apprehensions is that they harken back to methods used during the 1960s civil rights movement and even back to slavery, when dogs were weaponized against Black people.

 

One of her more pragmatic reasons for her opposition is the legal issues K-9-involved apprehensions create for the city. Monteverde did not have exact figures available, but said that in recent years, the city has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle lawsuits related to K-9-involved apprehensions.

“You know, they release the dogs and they bite the victims, and the city’s being sued for that,” she said. “It just doesn’t make sense — the amount of money that we’re spending to settle because the dogs are being let go and they are biting.”

Several of Monteverde’s colleagues on the city council have said in public forums they support a policy change. Monteverde hopes to see some movement on a policy change in the coming months.

Lt. Lahar is game.

“Police departments should be transparent and open,” Lahar said. “I have no problem participating in meetings and dialogue to see what can be changed, and what can be done better.”