K9 Drago – Onondaga County, New York

Died – 1/24/22 

Retired Onondaga County Sheriff’s K9, Drago dies unexpectedly

The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office said retired K9 Drago passed away unexpectedly on Monday morning. He was 9 years old. Drago retired in May of 2021 after seven years of service. During his years of service, he worked side by side with his handler, Sergeant Jeff Neal. According to the Sheriff’s Office, Drago had an exceptional career as a law enforcement dog and was deployed for over 1,000 calls ranging from building searches, area searches, perimeter operations, explosive searches, and officer protection. Drago was also responsible for 25 criminal apprehensions and located multiple missing or lost people during his career. The Sheriff’s Office says on four separate occasions Drago located guns that were used to commit crimes.

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Submitted By Jim Cortina

James A. Cortina has been involved with police dogs since 1972 and currently on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Jim has been appointed as Treasurer since its inception in 1991. Jim is one of the charter members of the C.P.W.D.A. organization. Since 1975 he has been a certified professional dog trainer and received his Master Trainer Certification in 1985. During his career he has provided armed K-9 strike crowd control for security agencies in Connecticut and out of state security companies. In conjunction with other members of the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Board of Directors, he helped to draft Connecticut Statute 53-247(e) "Intentional Injury or Killing of Police K-9" which was passed by the Senate in 1993 and also assisted in implementing the prestigious Daniel Wasson Memorial K-9 Award in 1992. In 1993 he helped coordinate the North American Police Work Dog Association Nationals in New London, Connecticut. He was appointed Training Director for the New London County Work Dog Association from 1985-1987. He performed decoy work for Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. in police K-9 demonstrations, trained several local police department canines, and coordinated training workshops for out-of-state police departments. He participated in the United States Police K-9 Association Trials in Croton on Hudson, New York in 1985 as a decoy. He is an avid photographer and received photography awards in 1989, 1990, and 1991 and currently takes photographs for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc.
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