New dog on duty
BY ALYSSA MEIER
Editor
Watching deputy Ray Copeland and his partner Onyx interact, it’s hard to imagine they have only known each other for a little over a week.
“It’s like it’s been years,” Copeland said, while giving Onyx an affectionate scratch on the head.
Copeland and Onyx are the most recent K-9 team to join the McLean County Sheriff’s Department, after a previous team retired earlier this year.
Copeland, who has been a deputy with McLean County for three years, said Sheriff JR Kerzmann asked him about being a K-9 handler when he first joined the squad.
“I was interested,” Copeland said.
When Chance, the four-legged partner of Justin Cote-Kanning, retired this spring, one of the department’s three squads was in need of a new K-9 unit, and Copeland was tapped to fill the role. After sitting in on a K-9 training session, it was decided that he would take the spot.
