WAVERLY, Pa. — In a rather unique partnership, Waverly Township Police and Geisinger have teamed up to buy a K-9.
The German Shepherd, named Wyatt, is training to be a drug-sniffing dog for the police department.
He will also help with searches at Geisinger Marworth, which is a rehab facility also in Waverly Township.
K-9 Wyatt comes to work with his handler at the police department every day.
He is still in training, but officers and those at Geisinger are excited for him to officially report for duty later this summer.
Wyatt is the first K-9 the police department has ever had.
Officer Angelo Rudolfi is his handler.
"I'm ecstatic to be able to have this venture in my career. It's a little bit different to do for hopefully the next ten years," Rudolfi said.
Geisinger Marworth partnered with the police to buy Wyatt.
He cost about $20,000 including training.
"It was clearly a win-win opportunity for the local community to bring resources into the local police department as well as bring some added flexibility for Geisinger," Director of Operations for Addiction Medicine Jordan Barbour said.
Geisinger Marworth used to contract K-9 services in the past but drug-sniffing dogs were in short supply.
"There were only a couple services in the entire state, so we had to schedule way ahead. If we had an urgent need, that wasn't happening," Barbour said.
Geisinger Marworth plans on bringing Wyatt in about two times a month to help with searches here.
"In the past with the contracted services, it was much less frequently than that and it's primarily used as a deterrent," Barbour said.
"It helps Marworth to have a little safer environment for themselves, the patients, and their employees," Rudolfi said.
In the meantime, Wyatt will be busy training all summer long.
"His training is going very well! He's very advanced, as per what Alan Finn, our trainer," Rudolfi said.
In addition to helping with drug searches, Wyatt is also being trained to track missing people.
He should be ready to get to work by the end of this summer.