Morning Minute: Monday, January 14, 2019

News About Town:  Matthews Police officers Detective Chris Duryee and Officer Dustin Ay work hard for the Town. After completing more than 900 hours of continuing education both men received their Advanced Law Enforcement Certificates. 

Photo courtesy Matthews Police Department

News Around Town:  The Federal Transit Authority awarded The City of Charlotte a $920,000 grant for planning the proposed LYNX Silver Line. The Silver Line, a CATS project, is a light rail extension from Gaston County through Matthews to Union County. The budget for the total project is expected to be $1 billion.

One Fun Thing:  There are just a few more days to check out “Christmas Past” at the Matthews Heritage Museum. The show of early- to mid-century Christmas decor runs through January 19.

Bloodhounds, the Real Life Paw Patrol

Last week law enforcement officers from all over the country convened in Matthews to train and certify their bloodhounds with the National Police Bloodhound Association. More than 45 law enforcement officers traveled across the country, some by plane, to Matthews to attend this five-day seminar. Instructors created scent trails for the dogs to follow, provided feedback to fine-tune the dogs’ tracking abilities, and advised handlers on best practices.
If you didn’t see these incredibly hard-working dogs while they were training in town, Matthews Police Officer Kevin Osuch will have his dogs (one of which is a tracking bloodhound) at Pawsitively Matthews this Saturday, November 3, in Stumptown Park.

“Since 1962, the National Police Bloodhound Association has been a trusted source for information relative to the use of the purebred bloodhound in the field of law enforcement.  The National Police Bloodhound Association (NPBA) teaches basic standards that have been tried and proven from many years of trails by law enforcement officers from all over the country that were found to be sound in the utilization of the man-trailing bloodhound.

Never has any officer member of the National Police Bloodhound Association been proven wrong when challenged in his or her use of the bloodhound in law enforcement by the courts by following the standards that have been set by the National Police Bloodhound Association.”

— NPBA Website