K9 Brando – York, Pennsylvania

Died – 10/5/18
Handler – Officer Michael Sampere

Retired York Area Regional K-9 officer takes one last ride with his handler

Brando, a retired York Area Regional Police K-9 officer, took one last ride with his handler on Friday night. It’s what he loved to do. The German shepherd died on Friday. His handler, Sampere, who now works for Stroud Area Regional Police Department in East Stroudsburg, Pa., placed Brando’s ashes in the front seat of the patrol car as he worked on Friday night. “… he’s riding with me one last time,” Sampere said. Brando served with York Area Regional Police between 2006 and 2013. Sampere left the department in 2014 when he took the job with Stroud Area Regional.Brando was a hard working K-9 officer who did his job well, Sampere said. The K-9 officer knew when it was time to go to work, and he was all business. The dog would race to the car. “If he could have opened the door himself, he would have,” Sampere said. Brando helped to find drugs, track people and apprehend criminals. Sampere remembered the time Brando found a rape suspect who had escaped from a mental hospital in Maryland. Brando found the man hiding underneath rocks in a creek in a thick wooded area in York County. The K-9 officer pulled the 250-pound man from the creek to the shoreline while the suspect punched and beat the dog. “(Brando) took a beating but never let go,” Sampere said at the time.

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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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