K9 Eto – Fiji

The members of the Fiji Police Force, Fiji Revenue and Customs Service, New Zealand Police, Australian Police gathered at the Fiji Detector Dog Unit Complex in Nasese last week to farewell Police Dog K9 Eto who died following a short illness. K9 Eto had assisted with the detection of narcotics valued at millions of dollars and large sums of undeclared currencies. K9 Eto was brought over from the New Zealand Police Dog Academy in 2015 and was based at the Fiji Detector Dog Unit, a joint K9 operational team consisting of handlers from the Fiji Police Force and Fiji Revenue and Customs Service operating out of Nadi and Nasese. The FDDU Program is a partnership with the Fiji Police, FRCS, New Zealand Police and New Zealand Customs Service, and sharing the loss was David Huff the NZ Chief Customs Officer Pacific Detector Dog Program who said K9 officers have a huge impact on operations worldwide.

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.