Board Overrules Twin Rivers Police Chief's Decision To Cut K9

NORTH HIGHLANDS (CBS13) - There's more turmoil in the troubled Twin Rivers Police Department after the school district's board voted Tuesday night to overturn the police chief's decision to get rid of the department's K9.

The Twin Rivers Unified School District's board of trustees voted 4-2 on Tuesday night to keep police dog Jag.

Acting Police Chief Scott LaCosse had recommended the district stop using Jag, saying a K9 was out of line with the revised mission of the department. It would also save the department about $23,000 annually.

But public support for the dog, who is popular with students, convinced the board to overrule LaCosse.

"If bringing a dog to Grant keeps our kids safe, that's what needs to happen. Period. Find a different way to do cuts," Wendy Martin, a parent of a Grant High School student, said Wednesday.

LaCosse and Lt. Mike Sales said they'd resign if the board didn't go along with the recommendation to stop using Jag. They'll now submit 30-day notices.

"Lt. Sales and I, who are running the department, are both former K9 officers," LaCosse told CBS13 on Wednesday."Our feeling was a K9 wasn't a good fit for this type of an organization."

Chief LaCosse said the district hired him to move away from patrol policing and more resource policing.

"The district pays me a considerable amount of money for my advice and to run this operation," he said. "At a certain point I don't think it's OK for me to take their money if they're not going to take my advice."

LaCosse, formerly with the Sacramento Police Department, came on in January to clean up the department, which has been hampered by a series of controversies and a scathing Sacramento County grand jury report released in June after a yearlong investigation.