Henderson ISD’s newest employee is the youngest one on staff. He also carries a badge, walks on four legs and is likely to lick you in the face. “Barney” is one of two new Henderson Police Departments K9 Officers and is assigned to HISD’s campuses. Barney and Officer Clint Case (his handler) can be found visiting with students, roaming the halls or helping with car line pick-up.
Both new K9 units were sworn in on Monday at the Henderson Police Department to kick-off the new K9 program. The program includes two canine units – one for the Patrol Division and one for the HISD School Resource Officer Program.
K9 Officer Vick, along with his handler Officer Kevin Bisnette, will provide tracking, apprehension and narcotics services for the police department. K9 Officer Barney and Officer Case will work on HISD’s campuses providing security and detection of drugs and other illegal items.
“The addition of the K9 program is just another opportunity for us to serve our community in a more efficient manner,” said Police Chief Taylor. “This will also help our agency to deter narcotics and crime through a tool we haven’t used in many years.”
Officer Case has looked forward to this chance for many years.
“This has been a dream of mine for a long time,” said Case. “i’ve always wanted to work with a K9 program and doing it at the school is exciting as
Well.”
“Our number one priority is educating kids,” noted Henderson ISD Superintendent Dr. Lamb. “And to do that, we want to create a safe environment. Having a K9 unit like Officer Barney goes a long way in building a trusting relationship between both police and students, that brings safety and security to our campus, and allows our teachers to do the job they do best, which is educating our kids.”
“There is an inherent value in having a K9 unit on campus,” he continued. “Kids need to know that if something is brought on campus, we will have a way to detect it. It’s not just going to help the city, but also for us in developing a good
partnership with the City and PD too.”