Meet Deputy Rex. 

Rex is the kind of deputy that likes to lay down in thebackseat, grow his hair long, and play with a tennis ball on thejob. But as easy going as that seems, he and the rest of the CopiahCounty Sheriff’s Department have one thing in common: they’reserious about fighting the war on drugs, and despite his rookiestatus and odd behavior, Rex is the department’s ace in thehole.

That’s because Rex is a long haired German Shepherd, and is thedepartment’s newest and only drug canine.

Rex, and his two-legged partner, Deputy Chad O’Quinn, completeda handler’s training course Wednesday, and are now on patroltogether to sniff out those involved with drugs.

Jones said that the department realized the need for a drugdetector dog, and purchased Rex to help catch those involved withdrugs.

“We want to make a dent in the drug problem,” Sheriff HaroldJones said.

Many of the department’s arrests in the county have been relatedto drugs in some way, according to Jones, who tied many theftarrests to drugs, citing instances where burglaries would occur sothat thieves could pawn the goods for drug money.

Jones said that the department needed an extra resource to crackdown on the drug problem, and one officer stepped up to help.

O’Quinn, a fourth-year officer with the department, offered tobe a canine officer with the department, Jones said. The two thenwent to Jackson, where they met Rex in the care of his trainer,Randy Hare of Alpha K9, who, Jones said, is nationally recognizedfor his training of police dogs.

Over the next several weeks, the department became involved withcommunity fund-raisers to purchase Rex for $6,500. Jones said thatthe department placed advertisements and used word-of-mouth to makethe community aware of their efforts.

“The response was overwhelming,” Jones said, adding that thecommunity was very supportive of the department’s efforts.

“People all across the county helped us out. There was evenpeople from Lincoln County that donated money,” he said.

After partnering the duo, O’Quinn and Rex then went through athree week handler’s training course to learn to work together.

“It was tough,” O’Quinn said. “It was mostly about me learningto read Rex’s behavior to know when he is alerting.”

O’Quinn said the toughest part of the course was the warehousesearch. “That was because there would be huge rooms with stacks ofboxes and I would have to know when Rex found something in one ofthe boxes,” he said.

Rex is trained to find illegal drugs in any situation, and hecan also be used for tracking, O’Quinn said.

O’Quinn demonstrated Rex’s skills in a mock search. Rex hit hismark flawlessly, and was rewarded with a tennis ball that he wasallowed to play with all the way back to the car.

“That’s his reward,” O’Quinn said.

O’Quinn said he is excited about working with his counterpart.He said that he was inspired to become a canine officer by watchingthe work of other dogs.

“I’ve been able to see other canine officers work on theinterstate. Seeing them work would get me excited about doing it,”said O’Quinn.

Although Rex is the first police dog for O’Quinn to work with,both the oficer and the sheriff are confident that the duo will bea valuable asset to the community.

“It’s definitely something to be dedicated to,” said O’Quinn.”It’s like having a child with me.”

O’Quinn said he enjoys being with Rex and that he is excited towork with him.

“(Chad) and that dog have really bonded,” said Jones.

Copiah County had been without a drug dog for a few years sincethe death of Benny, a dog that was partnered with Chief Deputy TonyHemphill.

Jones said since Benny’s death there were instances where thedepartment would call for assistance from other counties when a dogwas needed.

Jones cited a major concern in fighting the drug war is workingthe interstate. He said that the interstate was a main artery fordrug traffickers, and that to help protect Copiah and thesurrounding counties, O’Quinn would recieve special training forinterstate interdiction.

Jones expressed his appreciation to the communities who helpedthe sheriff’s office purchase Rex. Jones said that in returning thefavor, Rex will be available to come anywhere needed uponrequest.

“Anytime a school or citizen calls, Chad will be there,” Jonessaid, who also offered to lend Rex’s assistance to surroundingcounties’ departments.

Fighting these drugs is a cooperative effort,” Jones said. “Wejust don’t get through it on our own.”