K9 Yep – Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Handler – Officer Tyler Struckus

Former Myrtle Beach K9 officer month into retirement dies suddenly, department says

A Myrtle Beach K9 officer that retired last month after a 5-year career and more than 100 arrests has died unexpectedly.The city’s police department announced Yep’s death on its Facebook page Saturday night. She was a few months shy of her eighth birthday.“For five dedicated years, K9 Yep served the Myrtle Beach Police Department as a dual-purpose K9 with her handler, PFC. Struckus, leaving a lasting impact on our community. Thank you, K9 Yep, for your unwavering loyalty and commitment to our community and team,” the agency wrote on its Facebook page.News13 profiled Yep and her handler Tyler Struckus in September.“If it wasn’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have been the handler that I am, so I appreciate all her hard work,” he said. “We’ve had just over 500 deployments including article searches, tracks, narcotic sniffs, stuff like that. We’ve had a lot of good finds. We’ve found some homicide weapons, we found some drugs here and there.”Yep died Saturday afternoon “surrounded by friends and family,” the department said on Facebook.“Our team and community shares in the loss of Yep. Our K-9 program is an invaluable part of our team and family and Yep will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to PFC. Struckus and our entire unit,” Chief Amy Prock said in a statement.

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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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