The Town of Merrimack has always prided itself in being part of the community and making every effort to come up with creative ways to better serve the public. It has been over 20 years since the police department has added a canine to the force, and during these past years has utilized dogs from other agencies on hundreds occasions. Sometimes with delays up to two hours or more. These uses of a k-9 included locating lost and missing persons, assisting officers with aggressive individuals or violent attackers, searching for illegal drugs and presenting canine demonstrations for civic organizations. The need of such a program is so great, that the advantages outweigh the negative. The town council recently voted to allow the department to add a canine to the force, but with one major caveat, that the department must raise the money with the help of their great community. Chief Michael R. Milligan asked his staff, under the direction of Captain Michael Dudash, to research and develop a plan to raise monies for this worthwhile program. Because of the tough economic times that everyone is going through, raising the needed funds was a challenge. To those who gave, thank you. Merrimack is a community of 30,000 people and every dollar collected helped make this program a success. The anticipated costs related to the K-9 program are as follows: Purchase of a qualified dog, training, veterinary, supplies, insurance and equipment. The residents of Merrimack will benefit from the addition of this program. The town is located in the middle of the two largest cities in the State of New Hampshire and there is greater need now than ever. The finding of one missing child will make this all worth-while. Chief Michael R. Milligan also would like to extend his appreciation to National Association of Chiefs of Police and NACOP's K-9 Assistance program for their assistance with this community fundraiser. They have given the department the opportunity to have up to an additional $5,000.