"By Doggy!" he's good.

Using the expression of the late Buddy Epsen on an old tv show, Nicollet County has our own good dog. Draeco, a member of our law enforcement team came into the county board room this week and showed us what he could do. Deputy Paul Biederman had hidden a stash of controlled substances in the county board room and then he brought Draeco in and we watched him do his stuff. Biederman put Draeco through the drill and he performed supurbly. Draeco is trained in two disciplines: locating human scent and locating narcotics.

Deputy Biederman gave us a laundry list of some of the events where Draeco has been used.
He comes in handy on occasions when alarms go off in buildings and law enforcement is called to see if there is an actual break in. Draeco sniffed out some underage party goers this past fall who were hiding in the bushes when the officers broke up a party in the rural part of the county. He is also used at St. Peter High School when there is suspicion of drugs in lockers etc. One of Draeco's accomplishments which we all can be pleased about is when he helped to locate a three year old boy who was lost in a corn field. This event ended on a happy note.

As the handler of Draeco, Biederman gets compensated one half hour a day, 365 days a year. The county covers all of the feeding and veterinary costs. While we like all of our employees in Nicollet County, Draeco is pretty special. Its hard to compete with those big brown eyes. end