By Kyle Coppola
Lady Lake PD Welcomes New K-9 Ember
The Lady Lake Police Department will introduce its newest officer, K-9 Ember, to the community. K-9 Ember, a two-year-old black Labrador retriever, will be used primarily for patrol and detection duties. Working alongside his partner and handler, Officer Josh Higgins, Ember joins the department with 160 hours of narcotics and tracking training. He is able to track items as well as missing persons. In June, the Town Commission approved acquiring Ember from Central Florida K-9 of Eustis for $10,000. The purchase was made possible due to the department’s K-9 Donation Fund, provided by the Moritz Foundation.
When: Monday, July 17 at 6 p.m.
Where: Town Hall Commission Chambers, 409 Fennell Blvd., Lady Lake
Why: K-9 Ember joins K-9 Fast, and fills the void left by K-9 Lux, who retired in April after six years of dedicated service.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
