The Twin Lakes Village Board will discuss and consider possible action regarding its police department’s K9 officer, Rex, village administrator Laura Roesslin announced Thursday.
A news release issued Thursday afternoon said:
The Village Board recognizes the efforts of the Twin Lakes community over the past 24 hours in support of K9 Rex being sold to Officer Joe Patla. The Village President has asked that this topic be revisited and for the Village Board to hold a Special Board Meeting Monday July 6, 2020. The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. at Village Hall. The agenda for the meeting will be posted this afternoon.
On Wednesday, the board voted 5-1 with one abstention to deny a request to sell Rex to Patla.
Patla, who has been the Twin Lakes Police Department’s K9 handler since 2017, is leaving the TLPD for another job. He sought to purchase Rex — who he has worked with since 2017 — but the village, based on research it conducted on the topic, opted to instead retrain Rex to work with another officer.
The village’s decision has prompted social media outrage, an online petition and an online fundraising drive to try to allow Rex to remain with the Patla family.
