A $10,000 donation will help Douglas County hire a new deputy dog to sniff out drugs, track fleeing suspects and roust burglars from buildings.

The Kriz Charitable Fund Inc., a Lawrence-based nonprofit community fund, will cover $10,000 of the $12,000 cost for buying and training a replacement for Baloo, a German shepherd that retired from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department last year.

“We’re obviously very fortunate that we have some people who are interested in helping with law enforcement and public safety,” Sheriff Rick Trapp said. “This is enabling us to get a dog we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.”

The new German shepherd is expected to join the force in late spring, about a year after Baloo retired after more than five years on duty. The new dog will weigh nearly 100 pounds and be trained at Rudy Drexler’s School for Dogs Inc. in Elkhart, Ind.

Budget concerns initially kept Trapp from moving to replace Baloo, but a meeting last year with Kriz fund representatives soon gave him optimism.

James Dillon, a certified public accountant and president of the fund, said buying the dog fit the fund’s goals and purpose of helping programs and organizations that often cannot advocate on their own behalf, especially those addressing the needs of children, the elderly or animals.

The new dog, Dillon said, would help on all three counts.

“We just thought this was a really good thing to do,” Dillon said.

The fund was established in 1997 by Laura M. Kriz, a retiree who lived in Lawrence until her death in 1999. Since then, the fund has contributed more than $1,000 to buy kennels at the Lawrence Humane Society and $65,000 for a medical laser at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

The fund, managed by a five-member board, ended 2001 with $2.15 million in assets.

Lawrence police will get a replacement for Baloo, a German shepherd that retired last year after five years with the department.

The new dog will be assigned to Cpl. Ed Swanson, a jail supervisor who joined the sheriff’s department in November 1999 after 16 years with the Salina Police Department. Most of Swanson’s time in Salina was spent with a K-9 unit.

In Douglas County, Swanson said he and his new partner would be called into service for everything from a drug search during a routine traffic stop to a burglary with a suspect still at large.

The dog will be trained to sniff, seek and secure.

“It’s a very demanding position,” Swanson said.

The Kriz fund’s $10,000 donation will cover the bulk of the bill for the dog and training. A handful of other donors already have contributed $1,113, Trapp said, and there are likely more on the way.

“We’re still getting calls from people wanting to donate $20, $50, $100,” Trapp said.