GREENSBURG, Ind. (WISH) – The Greensburg Police Department is asking for $30,000 to continue maintaining its K-9 program for the next six years.

Mitchell Tuttle is a K-9 handler for Hercules, a 17-month-old dog. Tuttle said the dog searches for wanted suspects or missing individuals.

“The dogs live with us at home 24-7, so it’s like a small child to me as I just have to take care of it,” Tuttle said.

Kato and Echo are drug and narcotic dogs with the police department. The K-9 program has been around for two years to help solve crime.

“Their noses are millions of times better than ours, so they are going to find things that we may not be able to see,” Tuttle said. “They’ll know it’s there if it’s behind a wall, under a floorboard, if it’s in a seat, anything like that.”

Greensburg Police is trying to raise $10,000 per dog for food, veterinarian visits and constant training to keep their skills sharp.

“Equipment that they go through, harnesses that they chew up, leashes that they chew up, or collars that they wear. All of that kind of stuff is what we would budget for those dogs so we wouldn’t have to constantly raise money,” added Tuttle.

The department has been fundraising in the community throughout the year. It’s how they’ve been keeping the K-9 program going, instead of using taxpayer money.

“We’ve had three separate fundraising campaigns for each of the dogs, but a conservative guess would be we’ve raised an excess of $60,000,” Brad Katterhenry, Greensburg Police Public Information Officer said

“It’s nice that the donations are actually being able to fund a program that benefits the city in the long run,” added Tuttle.

The department is hosting a fundraiser golf outing next month. A GoFundMe page has also been created so anyone can donate to the K-9 program.