Ryce Center to donate bloodhound to police today

The Jimmy Ryce Center will present a new bloodhound named "Jimmy" to Hialeah Police this morning.

One of the goals of the Ryce Center, a victims rights organization, is to make a bloodhound available to police within one hour anywhere in the country.

Bloodhounds are believed to have 60 times the scent power of a German shepherd and are the only dog breed that can follow a human trail more than a few hours old.

"We believe that Jimmy would be alive today if a bloodhound had immediately been brought in to search for our son," Don and Claudine Ryce, parents of slain child Jimmy Ryce, said in a prepared statement.

In 1999, 9-year-old Jimmy Ryce was abducted after getting off of his school bus in a rural Miami suburb and murdered at the hands of a sexual predator.

The bloodhound will be presented at 10:30 a.m. at Hialeah City Hall, 501 Palm Ave.

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"
.........Sarah Tofte