According to today’s Reading Eagle article, the Reading Police Department will keep the Reading K-9 Unit but it could mean Officer Joshua Faust, pictured below, could lose his job as a handler and his dog, Rocky. He was one of three K-9 Officers hired last year.
Chief William Heim and the FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) have been arguing over the qualifications of the dog handlers since a grievance had been filed last year.The end result is the hiring of four more officers based on seniority. Officers Andrew Winters and Jason Linderman will remain based on this fact.
According to the article, Faust was hired on the same day as two of the K-9 officers but Faust had the least seniority. However, as stated in the article, Chief Heim passed over another applicant with more seniority but won’t say why or who this person was. Hmm….why is that?
So my question is, why pass over Faust? He now has the experience, the training and has spent all of this time with his dog , Rocky. Heim wouldn’t elaborate on what happens to Rocky. Rocky and Faust are a team. From my understanding, when training a canine officer who has been on a police force with a new police officer, a certain percentage of training is lost.
I am glad the Reading K-9 Unit will be staying. The city of Reading needs this much needed unit to protect the good citizens of Reading.
I just feel bad for Officer Faust and Rocky. Faust and Rocky are a team and I feel Faust should be able to keep Rocky. They have lived and worked together for a year. It would be like losing a family member. Please don’t add insult to injury by taking Rocky away from Officer Faust.