"It is expensive," Police Chief Thomas Flannery of Nether Providence Township said. "For a small organization like ours, it becomes cost prohibitive."
Ridley Park Borough concluded the same. After the department's dog died in November, the Borough Council voted to cut funding for a replacement from the 2012 budget, Police Chief Thomas Byrne said.
Money "is the issue here, plain and simple," Byrne said. "The dog was excellent."
Bryne said he planned to keep lobbying council for a canine unit to help officers with narcotics investigations and tracking.
"I have not sold or disassembled the K-9 car," he said. "I still want a dog."
He faces an uphill battle, given the expense associated with K-9 units and the financial restraints on municipal governments these days.
A highly trained police dog can cost from $8,000 for a patrol dog to more than $12,500 for a specialty animal, such as Folcroft's bomb-sniffing Logan.
That base price is just the beginning.
There is veterinary care; food; equipment, such as bulletproof vests; continued training; liability insurance; and supplemental pay for officers who take the dogs home. And the dogs need specially equipped police vehicles with separate air-conditioned and heated kennels.
It can take tens of thousands of dollars to start a canine program.
"The dog is really a small part of the cost of a program," said Russ Hess, executive director of the U.S. Police Canine Association.
Across the nation, dogs are used to search for drugs, explosives, firearms, corpses, currency, prohibited agricultural products, and people.
They sweep planes, train stations, cargo areas, airports, schools, businesses, and sports stadiums. The dogs protect political candidates and look for children and Alzheimer's patients who have wandered off.
