HOGANSVILLE, Ga. (WRBL) – The Hogansville Police Department has added two new officers to their roster, Belgian Malinois’ Redo and Cola. The four-legged officers were gifted to the police department from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

John Starnes, the K-9 coordinator at the Hogansville PD, said this is not the first time the police department has had the assistance of K-9s. There were two other K-9s on the force about 10 years ago and Starnes considers them an asset.

“The reason why we’re doing it now is not only for the interdiction, but once I get these dogs to where they need to be as far as narcotics we’re going to switch to tracking. We’re going to teach them how to track because they never learned how to track, and we’re going to use them for lost children and elderly persons and things such as that,” said Starnes.

Starnes said the biggest benefit he sees to having the K-9s in the department will be locating lost children and elderly people who may get lost. He said their ability to detect narcotics will be a plus to their tracking ability.

Starnes and patrol officer, Abby Freeman, will be the handlers of Redo and Cola. Starnes hopes to get two more K-9s next year for two more officers in the department.

As the other K-9 handler, Freeman does her patrolling with Cola. She said she believes adding the K-9s to the department will benefit the department in many ways.

“Honestly, just bettering the department, making it a little bit bigger. Also, having another partner with you nonstop is a plus too,” said Freeman.