K9 Amber – Port Orchard, Washington

Died 4/6/16
Handler – Officer Randy Ernst

Port Orchard Police Department says good-bye to veteran K9

At about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, as Port Orchard Police officers prepared for the hard task of saying goodbye to one of their own, an end of watch notice went out over the police dispatch system for the department’s narcotics dog, Amber. Amber served 10 years with the department alongside her handler, Officer Randy Ernst, who brought her home to live after she retired in December. She suffered a health issue and was put down Wednesday at a vet clinic surrounded by her fellow officers. Amber was 12 years old. Cmdr. Dale Schuster said her name was called three times over the air, signaling end of service. Meanwhile, he and the other officers and department employees held their breath. “Everybody heard that,” Schuster said of the traditional end-of-service call. “There weren’t many dry eyes around here.” Beside her service to the department and the public, Amber was a friendly and popular presence in the office. “Everybody loved that dog,” Schuster said. “She was a really gregarious, outgoing, happy dog. All the time her tail was going, looking for handouts, of course.” During her 10 years of service, Amber was responsible for sniffing out about $140,000 of drug money, 3,000 grams of marijuana, 400 grams of meth, 40 grams of heroin and 32 grams of cocaine.The department has no immediate plans to bring another dog to the department, Schuster said.

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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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