K9 Raja – India

Officer Ravi

Police bid a tearful adieu to their ‘Raja’

A tracker dog, Raja, which served the Police Department for about six years, died of ill-health at the police headquarters here on Friday. Police officers of all ranks paid floral tributes to the canine. Eluru Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police K.V. Mohan Rao said the tracker canine had helped the Krishna district police in detecting sensational cases. Superintendent of Police M. Ravindranath Babu, Additional SP M. Sathi Babu, dog handler P. Ravi and other officers placed the wreaths and paid tributes to the animal at the police grounds. Officers consoled Mr. Ravi who was seen crying during the last journey of his pet animal. Remaining dog handlers and the officers bid a tearful send off to the dog. “Raja won silver medal during training at Moinabad in Hyderabad. The canine won bronze medal during the All India Police Duty Meet in 2015, and won first prize in refreshment course held in 2016,” Mr. Ravindranath Babu said. The dog handler said that Raja used to be very active and clever in investigation and catching the suspects. “The canine suffered from urinary infection and we took it to the hospital. After observing the scan and X-ray reports, doctor prescribed medicines. Suddenly, the condition of Raja deteriorated and the animal breathed its last at 4. a.m. Raja used to follow the instructions of the handler strictly and give much respect to the officers,” Mr. Ravi recalled. ASP Sathi Babu said the canine detected the sensational murder cases of Avanigadda, A. Konduru and Nuzvid police station limits. Police fired into the air and paid official honours to the tracker dog. They saluted and mourned the death of the canine. ASP (AR) Satyanarayana, Special Branch DSP Dharmendra, ST and ST Cell DSP Uma Maheswara Rao, CIs Chandrashekar and Venkata Narayana and others were among those who paid tributes to the police canine.

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.