Coulee Dam Police Chief Paul Bowden briefed the city council last week on a couple possibilities for expanding the kinds of services his agency can provide. They include connected cameras that read license plates, and also trained police dogs that can search for drugs.

Bowden would like to consider the purchase of four cameras, two for Coulee Dam , two for Electric City, which his department serves, to mount and record license plates as they come through town.

He said he was considering applying for an available grant to pay for the cameras, which run about $3,000 each.

They’ve been used for solving crimes in Okanogan County, he said, and he would like to be a part of the same network, which can be valuable.

He said the Colville Tribes had had a vehicle stolen last year and could check with other departments on the same network, including Omak and Spokane. The vehicle was eventually found in Liberty Lake.

“It’s that network, Bowden said, “it’s not just your own camera.”

Bowden said to start it would cost over $20,000 the first year, then $12,000 a year after that.

Bowden wanted to check with the council before looking into the matter any further.

He was also interested in adding a canine unit to the department.

A new officer in the department has training in handling police dogs, but it’s not as simple as just getting one of the specially trained dogs.

Policies would have to be adopted, equipment purchased and installed. And then there’s the matter of an hour a day overtime for the officer, specifically to ensure daily training for the dog by its handler. That would come to over $18,000 a year.

“We know there’s drugs rolling through town all the time,” Bowden said. A dog and handler trained for the dog sniffing out drugs can provide “reasonable suspicion” to justify a search of a vehicle or person.

Bowden got some push back from Councilmember Dale Rey, who wasn’t convinced the program would provide enough benefit to justify the expense at a time when just hiring human officers is very competitive.

Bowden said he’s aware of public grants that can pay for training, and he will continue to research the possibilities.