Sonora Police Department receives first K9 in decades. What name won in public poll?
The Sonora Police Department formally accepted its K9 officer at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, after asking the public to help choose its name last month.
Sonora Police Chief Turu VanderWiel presented two resolutions at the council meeting, according to the agenda. The first was to ask that the council accept a donation of a K9 patrol vehicle, and second to ask them to accept the canine officer, who’s been named Ridge.
Both donations were funded by the nonprofit group Friends of Sonora Police Department in late August 2022.
The winning name, Ridge, was one of four options the public was able to vote on. The name won with 226 out of 590 total votes in the poll that closed Feb 20.
Jaeger (German for “hunter”) came in second place. Leonidas, or Leo, took third. The last name option was Conan.
The name Ridge was chosen in reference to Tuolumne County’s beautiful topography, the department said on Facebook.
The department selected the dog on Feb. 22, Sonora Cpl. Thomas Brickley told The Bee.
“Ridge and his handler have more training to do before we put him to work, but we are certainly happy to have him on the team,” according to the Facebook post. A department spokesperson declined to provide the handler’s name.
Ridge’s work will consist of apprehension of suspects, detection of narcotics and community engagement, Brickley said.
Until Ridge, the department has not had police dogs since the mid-1990s, he said, due to lack of officer interest and funding.
This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 1:03 PM.
