K9 Daxa – Prince Albert, Canada

Handler – Constable Kelsey Bighetty

Retired Prince Albert police service dog passes away

A special place in heaven has been reserved for a former K-9 member of the Prince Albert Police Service.Through their Facebook page, the police service confirmed Friday, Daxa had passed away at the age of 11.Daxa spent five years with the Prince Albert Police Service and was deployed more than 500 times, before retiring in 2018 to live with her handler and loving family.“Daxa and her handler were an incredible team, a true pleasure to watch them serve together. Daxa spent time at our home in 2013 where she left paw prints forever with my family. Thoughts with those who say goodbye to such a loyal partner and friend. One of a kind PSD Daxa!” Chief of Police Jonathan Bergen said in a statement. During her time with the Prince Albert Police Service, Daxa won many awards including a first place finish in tracking and a life saving St. Johns award.In 2018, Daxa was named Prince Albert’s Best Police Officer by paNOW‘s readers, making the law-enforcing pooch the first non-human to win one of the prestigious awards that recognize the city’s ‘Best Of The Best.’“It’s awesome for Daxa to get nominated and then get the votes to win the BOB Award,” Daxa’s handler Constable Kelsey Bighetty told paNOW. “I think it’s kind of cool for a four-legged animal to win for Best Police Officer, and it shows she has a lot of fans.”At the time of her retirement, Bighetty mentioned the day was bittersweet, but added he looked forward to having Daxa at home, enjoying retirement. “She’s caught over 200 suspects over her time with her, so this is just our way of showing her that she is a part of the policing family, she’s a four-legged police officer,” he said. “It’s bittersweet, but I know that Daxa has done a lot and been through a lot throughout our deployments. This way she gets to enjoy life … so I’m happy about that.”

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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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