Gretchen Beckstrom, center, stands with officers of the New York State Police, Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office, Ellicott Police Department and Lakewood-Busti Police Department after distributing handmade paracord collars to K-9 officers Drake, Bentley and Kara. P-J photo by Jay Young

Ellicott resident Gretchen Beckstrom met with officers from several local law enforcement departments, including the New York State Police, at Falconer Park on Friday for a show of appreciation.

Looking for a way to give back to the police officers, and especially the K-9 units which serve Chautauqua County, Beckstrom distributed handmade dog collars, key fobs and bracelets to each department.

“Gretchen is an avid dog lover,” said Trooper Jason Cresanti, who handles K-9 Kara. “Her father was a dog handler in the military and due to the climate she reached out to us and said that she wanted to do something special for all of the K-9 handlers in the county. Then from that it extrapolated, she wanted to do something for all of the police officers in the county.”

Also in attendance were K-9 Drake, who is handled by Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Beichner, and K-9 Bentley, who is handled by Deputy Dana Kapuscinski.

“I just wanted to do something for everybody,” Beckstrom said. “I did the collars for all of the dogs, it says ‘K-9 Hero’ on it.”