The Pocatello Police Department organized a recognition ceremony recently outside the department to honor the Phil Meador family for its $8,500 contribution that helped the department purchase a new police dog.

The department's previous dog, Bart, a 5-year-old brindle Dutch Shepherd, had been known as a highly trained narcotics and apprehension dog.

He was even rated the third best patrol dog in Idaho during 2018 under the guidance of Pocatello police officer Akilah Lacey.

But then Bart died due to a genetic heart condition while on duty in November.

That’s when the Meador family chose to step in.

“As a family we’ve always been partial to dogs and animals in general,” Phil Meador said. “And when I read about Akilah’s misfortune with his prior dog I knew that they were hard to come by," he said.

And he thought it might be something the family could get involved in and help Akilah and the police department, he said.

Meador, who owns local local Ford, Toyota and Subaru car dealerships, said that when you’ve been around dogs all your life you gain a very sound affection for them.

And he says it’s neat that they can provide the services that they do so willingly.

“We’ve just always been animal people and we’ve all been in the shelters, the Humane Society and whatnot, and just saw it as an opportunity,” Meador said.

Lacey said it’s amazing to have the donation.

“Obviously you’re mourning and you’re sad at losing your partner like that,” Lacey said. “And then for people in the community to step up and try to help then that not only helps me but helps the community in providing a service that we lost.”

But now Lacey said it’s up to him to train his new police dog, Thor, a Belgian Malinois. He aims to train Thor up to the same level as Bart was at. 

Because it all makes a key difference to police officers.

“The use of dogs is vast,” Lacey said. “It’s important for the police department to have that tool.”

He says it’s especially helpful to have the dogs to detect narcotics and even help to catch suspects, though only if the occasion calls for it. 

They can find suspects in hidden, dark places because of their sense of smell and hearing, he said.

“In that case when you do use them it’s always during a time when it’s to ensure the safety not only of the police officer, but of the community and the coworkers,” Lacey said.

And when an officer does use a dog they’re usually more of a deterrent than anything, he said. 

“There are more people that are willing to fight me than there are who want to fight my dog,” Lacey said.

So he says a situation usually resolves for them in a nonviolent way without anybody getting hurt. 

“It just helps,” Lacey said.

Meanwhile, even though he has another police dog, Lacey says he and his family and kids will always remember Bart.

“He’ll always have a place in our hearts and he’s definitely something that will always be a figure not only in my career, but in my family,” Lacey said.

In addition, the Meador family donated $12,000 to the Pocatello Free Clinic in Pocatello as part of the Subaru Share the Love Event that ran from Nov. 19 to Jan. 4 2021.

Subaru of America donated $250 for every new Subaru vehicle purchased or leased to a customer. Subaru retailers also have the opportunity to add a local hometown charity for their customers to select.

"We were were thrilled about the donation and this is not the first time they have donated to us," said clinic Executive Director Sherrie Joseph.

She says a donation like that is a huge deal for the clinic.

"It helps a lot of people and it's from our location," she said. "It comes to the clinic and it stays local."

And it fills a critical need. Last year the Pocatello Free Clinic had almost 1,000 patients.

"We really feel that by building the health of one person in our community we build the health of the whole community and that's really important to us," Joseph said.