Saturday, March 12, 2005

Charity dinner goes to the dogs
Fund-raiser nets $5,000 for Dover Police K-9 program

By HIROKO SATO
Democrat Staff Writer
hsato@fosters.com

Dover Police Officer's Brian Cummer, with his dog Ace, bottom left, and Tim Keefe with his dog Norman, posed with the student chefs and instructors of the Atlantic Culinary Academy at McIntosh Academy in Dover recently after they prepared and served the meal at the benefit dinner held for the Dover Police K-9 Unit. (Steve Drozell/Staff photographer)


DOVER - Ace, a 3-year-old black Labrador, isn't just Brian Cummer's best friend.

The dog serves as the Dover Police officer's eyes and nose, guiding him to hidden drugs in a local hotel in the seizure of two pounds of crack cocaine earlier this month.

"They caught many, many people and hundreds of thousands of dollars in drugs" over the years, Portsmouth Police Capt. David Ferland said of Ace and three other Dover canines as he tried to raise funds recently.

L'Esprit at Atlantic Culinary Academy, a charity dinner for Dover Police K-9 unit, was held at McIntosh College, drawing about 60 people to the event. The function was hosted by the culinary institute, with staff and students donating their time to prepare the five-course meal to help sustain the prize-winning K-9 program.

The academy, the sponsor of Ace this year, became a supporter of the local canine program when Cummer stopped by there with his dog, according to Executive Chef Jim Gallivan. When the staff learned the police department often struggle to come up with a way to pay for the program while trying to tighten its budget, they wanted to help, Gallivan said.

"They are a hard thing to fund," said Ferland, a noted expert in K-9 training who serves on the New Hampshire Working Dog Foundation. Because police try hard to avoid cutting people, they sometimes end up sacrificing funding for canines, even though dogs are cost-effective search tools, he said. He said it costs the Dover Police Department $3,000 to keep a dog each year.

Cummer said a trained dog needs only minutes to do a search that would take a large amount of manpower. Besides, canines can serve as "an icebreaker" between police officers and residents, Ferland said.

"A dog is a phenomenal tool," Cummer said.

The Dover K-9 unit was launched in 1991 as a two-year pilot program when Officer John Usher proposed the idea. Since then, it grew into a unit of three officers and four dogs: Usher and his dogs, Falko and Miss Maggie; Cummer and Ace; and Tim Keefe and his dog, Norman.

The dogs have found 20 people over the years and successfully assisted in many drug searches, according to Ferland.

The unit has also gained national recognition. Last March, Keefe and Norman, a 5½-year-old golden retriever, placed ninth at a competition sponsored by the United States Police Canine Association in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

Ferland described Dover K-9 as one of the "finest and most reliable" units in the country. He said the unit's accomplishment has to do the officers' dedication, training skills and the support for the program from both the Police Department and people in the community.

"What they have done to the community is they brought the policemen closer to the people," said Phyllis LaPointe of Barrington, who attended the charity dinner.

LaPointe, who enjoyed talking to Mounted Patrol officers while working in downtown Dover, started to volunteer for the horse unit after retirement. She said she supports all the efforts by the local police in using animals.

"Dogs were a big draw," said Karen Asselin of Dover about the reason she wanted to come to the event. She said she and her husband thought supporting the K-9 program while enjoying the dining experience at the Atlantic Culinary Academy would be a perfect night out.

The humorous slide show Ferland put on to introduce the K-9 officers' lives and the ambiance of the dinner seemed to help event-goers open up their wallets for the cause.

A ride-along with Usher and his dogs was auctioned off at $250. The two "chef auctions" which promised top chefs from the schools to be sent to the highest bidders' homes to prepare dinner for up to 10 people also sold for $400 and $625.

The proceeds from these and other auctions and sales of dinner tickets $37.50 a person and $75 a couple totaled about $5,000, according to Ferland.

The "all natural, vegetarian" dog cookies the culinary academy staff and students made by testing the recipe on Ace were also sold for $5 a bag as part of the fund-raiser.

Encouraged by the success, Ferland said the Dover Police are hoping the fund-raiser will become an annual event.

Usher said on Saturday the past 14 years have been very rewarding to him.

"I don't want to do anything but working with dogs," said Usher, whose father was also a police dog handler.

Cummer said he believes being a K-9 officer is the best job in the police.

"You are with your best friend every day," he said.