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Died 3/4/20
1st Handler – Ofc. Bob Harris
2nd Handler – Ofc. Jason Griffin
Pasco Police K-9 Hapo dies unexpectedly
The Pasco Police Department said Hapo was about 9 years old, and that his cause of death appears to be natural causes due to old age. Hapo had originally been named Jordan when he was selected as Pasco’s next K-9 officer in 2013, but he was renamed Hapo in recognition of the generous donation made at the time by Hapo Credit Union that allowed the police department to purchase him. He had been on active duty since mid-2013. His first handler was Ofc. Bob Harris and his original assignment was patrol, tracking suspects, searching buildings and making arrests as needed. In fall of 2018, Officer Harris moved to Ochoa Middle School as the school resource officer, and veteran Ofc. Jason Griffin was designated as Hapo’s new partner.In 2019, Hapo successfully cross-trained in detecting several kinds of illegal drugs. Together, K-9 Hapo and Ofc. Griffin continued to track suspects and added narcotics detection to Hapo’s successes. “Although K9 Hapo was about 9 years old and had an almost-seven year career with us, it is still a shock and we had been hoping for another year on the road before he retired,” Pasco police wrote on Facebook. “Our K9 officers always live at home with their handlers and the family, so this loss will also affect family members who had come to know Hapo personally.” Hapo is the second Pasco police dog to pass away in the past few months. In December 2019, K-9 Lemon died from a medical crisis, just weeks after retiring due to health concerns.
