The City of Sonora and the Sonora Police Department have a new K-9 law enforcement dog named Ridge, thanks to a Summerville High School graduate and the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Friends of Sonora Police Department, and he was introduced Monday evening to the Sonora City Council.
Ridge is a 15-month-old German Shepherd and has already completed months of obedience training, Sonora Police Chief Turu VanderWiel said Tuesday. Ridge and his handler, Sonora Police Officer Antonio Shouse, will undergo an additional 320 hours of patrol training over the next few months before Ridge can be used for police work.
Sonora Police kept their new K-9’s name under wraps until the council meeting Monday, and they introduced Ridge on social media the following morning.
A total of 590 people voted in an online poll to name the German Shepherd, and the name “Ridge,” a tribute to the topography of Tuolumne County and the rest of the Central Sierra, received 226 votes.
Friends of Sonora Police Department were the catalyst behind the department’s acquisition of its first K-9 law enforcement dog in decades, VanderWiel said. The nonprofit officially donated Ridge and a fully-equipped 2015 Chevy Tahoe police K-9 vehicle to the City of Sonora and Sonora Police at Monday’s council meeting.
The last time the city and city police had a K-9 law enforcement dog was in the late 1990s, VanderWiel said.
“We started on the path of reestablishing a canine program about four years ago,” VanderWiel said. “Although we saw a need for this program, the money just wasn’t there, so I knew that we would need to secure an alternate funding source.”
Summerville High School senior Faith Hamilton came through in a big way when she decided to do a “Support the Blue” fundraiser for her 2020 senior project. Hamilton graduated with the Summerville Class of 2020. Friends of Sonora Police Department became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in May 2021. Hamilton’s senior project fundraiser had to be delayed until November 2021 due to COVID restrictions.
Hamilton’s fundraiser included a dinner, live auction, and a live band in the Sierra Building at the Mother Lode Fairgrounds, and it raised more than $28,000, Hamilton said Tuesday.
Hamilton used some of the money to buy load-bearing vests for Sonora PD patrol officers. She also put preliminary funding toward a new K-9 program for Sonora Police, VanderWiel said.
Ed Halsey with Friends of Sonora Police Department summarized the funding raised to finance acquisition of a new K-9 law enforcement dog for Sonora PD. The nonprofit raised $25,000 for a 2015 Chevy Tahoe police K-9 vehicle; $4,500 for more logos, paint, and exterior brand wrapping on the new K-9 vehicle; $12,000 to pay for Ridge, his prior training at Top Dog Police K9 in Ripon, and for housing Ridge and Shouse for eight weeks of training yet to be completed; and $2,500 to cover out-of-pocket money Shouse has spent on Ridge. The nonprofit also raised $5,000 for a camera to support the K-9 program, Halsey said.
Halsey added that Sonora PD will pay for the eight weeks of training for Ridge and Shouse.
“Other things we’re going to try to take care of, vet bills if necessary, and grooming, bathing,” Halsey said Tuesday.
Businesses that donated money to help Friends of Sonora Police Department cover more than $45,000 since Fall 2021 to bring Ridge to Sonora PD have included Sonora Adventist Health, Sierra Pacific Industries, Sierra Northern Railroad, and many individuals, Halsey said.
“Our first annual fundraiser in January 2022, the Outpost put on a luncheon,” Halsey said. “What this is, it’s amazing a community as small as Sonora can get it together and help us do something like this. I’ve never seen anything like this. Congratulations to the entire community of Sonora. Everybody should be proud of this.”
