K9 Copper joins FUSD School Police Services

Fontana Unified School District's K9 program is up and running!  School Police Officer Norma Bautista has been selected as the District's first ever K9 handler and she has already been paired with her new partner, a 2-year old male Labrador Retriever named Copper.

Copper is full of energy and loves to play – musts for a drug and weapons detection dog.   Officer Bautista and Copper have begun their training program and they should be visiting school sites for demos and actual searches within the next few months. 

Copper’s name was selected through a competition among our elementary school students.  The elementary school principals and teachers did an outstanding job getting the students involved and School Police Services received several hundred suggestions from them. They chose “Copper” for a variety of reasons, including the copper coloring in his coat, the fact that once fully trained he will be a “Cop(per)", and the term cop actually derives from the first police department established in London, England in 1829.  The citizens of London referred to the officers as “bobbies” (in honor of the department’s founder Sir “Robert” Peele) and “coppers” because of the shiny copper buttons attached to their uniforms.  Interestingly, four different kids from four different schools picked this name for our dog, so it looks like it was meant to be.

The winners in the "Name the K9 Competition" are:

• Salvador Venegas, Ms. Pizano’s class at Mango Elementary School
• Najune Hudson, Ms. Wheeler’s class at Porter Elementary School
• Henry Herrera, Ms. Luna’s class at Shadow Hills Elementary School
• Eric Oregel, Mr. Watkins class at West Randall Elementary School