Sheriff says county ordered two Ford SUVs, K-9 unit; SWAT team now eight members

Sheriff Dan Rella told the board the department has ordered two Ford sport utility vehicles to be upfitted: one to serve as a K-9 unit and another as a patrol vehicle. "We got two vehicles ... one is a K9 unit and the other one is a regular patrol unit with expected delivery date around the 30th of 2026," Rella said.

Rella also described the county's SRT/SWAT staffing and gear strategy. "We have eight," he said when asked how many are on the SWAT team, and explained members now wear SRT uniforms and keep equipment staged in cruisers so they can deploy more quickly when incidents occur. The change was framed as an efficiency and readiness measure based on prior delays when members had to return to offices or homes to retrieve gear.

No additional funding requests tied to the vehicle purchases or SWAT changes were presented at the meeting.