The Evans City Seven Fields Regional Police Department is losing an officer. Chaos’ handler, Sgt. Donald Myers, is losing a partner. And the department is losing a valuable resource which it won’t be able to replace, no matter how many two-legged officers it puts out on the street.

Only board members have enough information to make an informed call on ending the department’s 13-year-old K-9 program. But we can’t shake the feeling that the department is losing a powerful ambassador to the community.

K-9 officers have undergone a radical image shift since the 1980s, when they were widely viewed as lethal tools meant to inflict injury and inspire fear.

The sight of Butler County Sheriff’s canine, Bullet, visiting his favorite telephone pole outside the courthouse is more likely to inspire passing smiles in our newsroom than shivers.

Canine officers are, if not universally beloved, far from feared these days. In fact, they seem to be one of the most relatable and popular programs a local police department can field within its service area.

A benefit concert this Saturday for Butler City’s K-9 program is expected to attract more than several hundred supporters.

That doesn’t mean the programs are entirely uncontroversial. In recent years the use of canine officers as drug-sniffing sleuths has come under heavy scrutiny and even legal action.

The central questions behind the challenges have been how reliable drug dogs are, and whether, in some instances, use of the dogs strays into an invasion of suspects’ Fourth Amendment rights.

For local departments, however, the most pressing questions — evidenced by the police department’s decision Monday to scrap its program — can revolve around costs and benefits.

Police dogs cost many thousands of dollars to purchase and train. They can also monopolize officers’ time and limit their workaday flexibility. In small departments with a large number of part-time officers, that can present challenges that outweigh the benefits of a K-9 officer.

But the dogs’ appeal to the public and the growing list of applications for their skills shouldn’t be underestimated by departments weighing these decisions.

Last February hundreds of people turned out for the funeral of Rocco, the slain Pittsburgh Police Department canine. Hundreds of people donated to fund raisers, which collected thousands of dollars in donations for the K-9 unit.

Last July, police in New England announced they were training police dogs to sniff out hard drives, thumb drives and other technological devices as part of efforts to aid child porn investigations.

And this summer Pennsylvania Game Commission officials announced that they were resurrecting a K-9 program first formed in 2000. After 15 to 16 months of training, black Lab Storm and Conservation Officer Larry Hergenroeder will be able to track poachers from the scene of an illegal kill and find hidden firearms, bows and shell casings in the field. The team will cover Mercer and Butler counties.

These programs take time — and yes, money — to develop and sustain. Shutting them down isn’t a decision that should be made lightly.