Officer to Move to College Park After GHI Votes Against His K-9 Kennel
The kennel issue pitted neighbor complaints and animal rights advocates’ concerns against a police officer’s dream to live in Greenbelt, while serving in its K-9 program.
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An officer wanting to enter the Greenbelt Police Department's K-9 training program will be moving to College Park, after a unanimous vote to not allow him to keep a kennel on his property, Greenbelt Patch reported.
The kennel issue pitted neighbor complaints and animal rights advocates’ concerns against Officer Robert Defibaugh's dream to live in Greenbelt, while serving on its highly commended K-9 program. The kennel is a requirement for Defibaugh to enter the program.
The Greenbelt Homes, Inc. board voted 7-0 against Defibaugh building the kennel.
The people of College Park are welcoming him and saying they’d love to have an officer in the neighborhood, Michael Apgar, the Greenbelt FOP president said.
Apgar’s letter to the board said having Defibaugh move out of Greenbelt made him sick. “The fact that a Greenbelt Police officer is forced to move out of the city so that he can have a K-9, to be used in the community that did not want him here, is an absolute tragedy.”
But GHI Board President Tokey Boswell said K-9 kennels have been tried in the community before, and the experiment failed.
“Given the concerns of neighbors and other members, a K-9 kennel does not seem to be a good fit for the community," Boswell stated in an email to Patch.
Read more on the Greenbelt Patch.
Tim Miller
12:40 pm on Friday, February 3, 2012
What are these people thinking? This is just plain "NUTS", you want this type of police service but you don't want the responsibility that comes with it! Well to Officer Robert Defibaugh, I for one would be more than happy to have you and your K9 live in my neighborhood.