K9 Arno – Southington, Connecticut

Handler – Officer John Mahon

Decorated Retired Southington Police Dog Arno Dies

Arno, a decorated police dog who served at the Southington Police Department for several years, has died, law enforcement officials said. Arno was 12. Arno was on the job from January 2010 until December 2019, when both he and his handler, Officer John Mahon, retired. Arno worked patrol with Mahon over the nine years and also represented the Southington Police Department in parades, at schools, and at special events such as the Touch a Truck. Mahon and Arno were awarded the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Tracking Award for 2015 after a theft case at a local store. On Feb. 4 of that year, Mahon and Arno responded to the Southington Target store after police recieved a report that two individuals had broken into the store and were observed on surveillance equipment leaving through an “opening” they had created. Mahon and Arno began a track that lasted about two hours in 5-degree weather through two streams. The two suspects were captured, as was the getaway car driver. Authorities then discovered that 13 Target stores had been burglarized in the same manner, which aided the FBI in closing out cases from as far away as Florida and Texas and one of the suspects had extraditable warrants out of Texas and New Jersey. In all, Arno had “successful tracks” with Mahon that led to locating missing persons, burglars, car thieves and “other criminals,” police said. “The Southington Police Department would like to thank Arno for his service and offer our sincerest condolences to Officer Mahon,” town officials said in a statement released Monday.

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.