Roseville Police add fifth K-9 unit

Staff report
1:46 PM PST

Roseville Police Department's newest officer weighs in at a healthy 75 pounds. He's handsome too, with sleek black hair and exceptionally large ears.

Roseville Police's newest canine officer team, Officer Ron Goodpaster and his dog Drago, recently completed six intensive weeks of basic police K-9 training and are now a state-certified police dog team.

With the addition of Goodpaster and Drago, the Roseville Police Department now has five active officer-and-dog teams.

The department purchased Drago and paid for his training and ongoing care with a grant from the California Indian Gaming Distribution Fund. The grant was made with the support of the Tribal Council of the United Auburn Indian Community, which owns Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln.

Drago (his name means "Dragon") is a 3-year-old German shepherd. His handler, Goodpaster, joined the Roseville Police Department in 2004 after serving 12 years as a deputy sheriff for Placer County. Before Goodpaster acquired Drago, he served an initiation period of sorts on the K-9 team as an agitator, wearing a full-body bite suit and posing as a "bad guy" to help the dogs in their ongoing training.

In addition to their regular patrol duties, Roseville's K-9 teams are called on more than 300 times a year by other officers and neighboring law enforcement agencies to help locate suspects, search buildings and detect hidden narcotics.