Karlene Norby remembers her son Clifford, now 21 and an Eagle Scout, and West Linn Boy Scout Troop 149 raising money for a police dog several years ago.
“The boys sold candy bars and raised over $1,000,” she said.
The Scouts’ efforts, along with donations from the West Linn Lions and private contributions, were part of $25,000 collected to purchase and import a Belgian Malinoisfrom Germany in 2006.
West Linn police Sgt. Jim Doolittle named the dog Viggo and trained him. So it was fitting that Viggo would visit last month with the Scout troop
Photo by Karlene Norby
that helped purchase him. The visit was the start of a community outreach push by the West Linn police.
The Scouts had contacted the police in search of a speaker, “and we were just working on making ourselves more accessible to local groups,” Doolittle said. “We have done it informally for a while, but we are kicking off more of a deliberate effort to get out into the community.”
Photo by Karlene Norby
During the hourlong session with the Boy Scouts, Doolittle said, he talked about how police use the dog. “I shared how we have used him for everything from tracking a lost Alzheimer’s patient to locating missing children that may have wandered from their home. We have used him to help find criminals and to find lost garments. He’s multitalented.”
