STRUTHERS — Struthers Police Department recently added a second police dog team to the patrol division.

Officer Dalton Moore and his newly acquired canine partner, Recon, have begun their work on patrol as a team.

Recon is a 1-year-old Dutch Shepherd / Belgian Malinois mix who was born in September 2021. Recon initially was trained by Alpha Pack K9 located in Springfield, Ohio.

Moore has been with the police department full-time since August 2020. Recon and Moore most recently have returned to Alpha Pack K9 for additional training and have become a dual-purpose team this past October. They are now certified in narcotics, detention, apprehension, tracking and article searches.

Recon and Moore are the third K-9 team in Struthers Police Department history.

The program was started initially by former officer Jason Murzda and his partner Rebel in 2007 and they served until Rebel’s retirement. Officer Jeremy Cramer became a full-time patrolman for the city in May 2016 and was paired with Kalu in 2017. Kalu is a 7-year-old Belgian Malinois / German shepherd mix who was born in September 2015 in Hungary. Kalu traveled to the United States and was located at Shallow Creek Kennels in Sharpsville, Pa., where Cramer attended training to be certified as a dual purpose team.

This is the first time in Struthers history that there have been two active police dog teams. The two are scheduled on separate shifts and rarely will be seen working at the same time. The teams are fully funded by donations.

Donations are accepted from everyone from private citizens, nonprofits and local businesses. Most recently, the Struthers Rotary Club held a fundraiser for Recon and was able to donate $4,860 to the K9 fund while the St. Anthony Women’s Auxiliary donated a little over $1,000 as well.

The teams are always looking for fundraising events and other donations to keep the K-9 teams properly equipped and acquiring future police dogs. The cost of purchasing and training a canine is between $15,000 and $20,000.