WAYNESVILLE, Mo. (Dec. 19, 2008) — Thanks to a $10,000 donation, the Waynesville Police Department has been able to begin a police canine program under the auspices of Cpl. Brian Moore.

“I come from a law enforcement family; my father was a canine handler and that’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Moore said at Thursday night’s city council meeting.

“I talked to the chief about it, I talked to the city about it, and they said to go with it and see what I could come up with,” Moore said. “After many months of planning and organizing and researching, I started seeking donations and seeking assistance from the community.”

That assistance came from a single family, Joe and Billie Jean Walker, who contributed $10,000 to cover the costs of purchasing the police canine and paying for Moore’s training and travel to Arkansas where the training will take place.

This week’s donation isn’t the first time the Walkers have contributed to city programs, according to Assistant Police Chief Clarence Liberty.

“The Walkers have been very involved in different functions within the city, especially the animal shelter,” Liberty said. “I think we’d have a very difficult time running the animal shelter the way we do without their help.”

Moore said having a police canine in the city of Waynesville “is going to be a huge asset for officer safety and to assist the schools,” and Councilman Alan Clark agreed.

“A special thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Walker — anything that can be done for our police department that protects their safety and protects our residents’ safety is not a good thing for bad guys,” Clark said.

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