K9 Odie – Hillsboro, Oregon

Died – 3/9/17
Handler – Officer Denise Lemen-Sipp

Hillsboro police K-9 Odie euthanized after battle with cancer

Hillsboro Police Department personnel said farewell to one of their own last night. HPD K9 Odie passed away March 9 after his handler, Officer Denise Lemen-Sipp, discovered her longtime partner had developed cancer. “For a working dog, Odie lasted a long time,” HPD spokesman Lt. Henry Reimann told Patch Friday morning. The longhaired, pure bred German Shepherd was active on the force for nine years, Reimann said, having been taken in by the HPD while still a pup. Odie was about 10 years old, he said. Typically, Reimann continued, K9 officers will rotate out after five or six years of active duty, with hip issues the common cause of retirement.Odie, however, was still on active duty at the time of his passing, and just three years ago celebrated an historic achievement for the HPD. In January 2014, Odie became “the first operational, dual-certified police K9 in the history of the Hillsboro Police K9 Unit” after he and Lemen-Sipp passed an Oregon Police Canine Association test allowing Odie to work as a narcotics-tracking K9, according to an Oregonian article from February 2014.Reimann said in a statement that after Odie’s passing Thursday night, on duty Hillsboro Officers paid tribute to the veteran K9 through a “last call” ceremony: Dispatchers made a formal call requesting Odie to respond by radio, Reimann said. After no response, three bells were rung and some words were spoken in deference to Odie’s time on the force.

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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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