York County businessmen donate $15,000 for dogs to help fight drugs

Police in York County now have two new fighters in the ongoing law enforcement effort to combat illegal drugs.

A lady cop named M.J. and a guy named Ivan. Both are drug dogs, and the two additions put the drug unit back at full dog-strength after retirements in the past two years of two dogs that aged out of service.

A $15,000 donation from two York County businessmen, Vance Houston and state Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill, paid for the two trained Black Labrador Retrievers.

The dogs have already paid dividends. They worked a pair of recent drug seizures in the past two months that netted $2 million in what police say were Mexican cartel drugs.

“The dogs helped find 18 kilos of methamphetamine, worth a million dollars on the street, and 13 kilos of cocaine worth another million,” said Marvin Brown, commander of the drug unit. ‘In the cocaine raid the drugs were hidden inside batteries. It was the dog’s nose that knows.”

Trained dogs that can track scents of illegal drugs are an invaluable tool in the unit’s effectiveness, said Kevin Brackett, 16th Circuit Solicitor.

“Getting $2 million in drugs confiscated and off the street is huge,” Brackett said.

The drug unit, comprised of officers from eight York County police agencies and supervised by the solicitor’s office, has been in place since 1998 and always had at least one drug dog. But with offices in York, Fort Mill and Rock Hill now to combat drug traffic that has increased, one dog is not enough to quickly get to crime scenes, traffic stops, and other drug busts, Brackett said. The donation through the sheriff’s office foundation paid for the two dogs and their training.

“We are very thankful to have people like Vance Houston and Ralph Norman in our community who are willing to help us,” Brackett said.

The donation idea came up when Houston and Norman, longtime friends, wanted to help police efforts. They talked with Brown, commander of the drug unit and in short order decided to fill the gap left by the recent loss of the two dogs to retirement.

Houston, who owns several Subway sandwich stores, donated $10,000. After one of his sons died from drug problems, Houston said he wanted to help the effort to not just help those with drug problems, but stop the flow of illegal drugs that harm people.

“If we all can stop the drugs before they got out there, stop the problem before it starts, we should do it,” Houston said.

Norman, a real estate developer who also represents parts of Rock Hill and northern York County in the S.C. General Assembly, donated $5,000. Compared to the service that officers give to protect others while putting their lives on the line, the donation is “so small,” Norman said.

“These dogs could save lives out there in finding drugs, and they certainly could save the lives of our officers out there working to find these drugs before they get in the hands of the public,” Norman said.

Drug unit officer Dustin Sierra is the trainer/partner with “Ivan” and Josh Todd is partnered with “M.J.” The training between officer and dog has gone smoothly, both said, and the recent drug seizures the dogs played a part in already showed their worth.

The dogs join “Nike” the dog already with the unit partnered with officer Leland Harrelson.

This story was originally published December 7, 2016 at 7:44 AM with the headline "York County businessmen donate $15,000 for dogs to help fight drugs."