Back in September, the Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office began a fundraising campaign for a K-9 unit. Sheriff Russ Van Renterghem says their fundraising goal has been reached.

“The response from the community, whether it’s individuals, businesses, civic organizations, has just been overwhelming.  And a big surge started coming in here in the past week that put us well over our goal of $55,000 to start the program up.”

Van Renterghem says K9 Deputy Rocco is here and Rocco will be handled by Deputy David Wilke.  Rocco is able to search for narcotics, but needs more training to be used for tracking people.  That training will come in March.