K9 Baks – Randolph County, North Carolina

Died – 1/21/16
Handler – Master Police Officer Terry Jones

Sheriff’s office bids farewell to K-9 Baks

The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office is sad to report that one of their canine officers, K-9 Baks, has passed away.K-9 Baks was diagnosed with cancer several weeks ago and his condition was inoperable. On Thursday, the difficult decision was made to puts Baks to sleep, according to a press release. Though the decision was not an easy one, it was in his best interest.Baks was a 9-year-old German shepherd imported from East Germany. He had a distinguished career in public service, first serving in Afghanistan and Iraq for the private security company, Blackwater. There he supported U.S. military troops and was utilized to detect explosives. After his overseas tour, Baks was adopted by Walter Blower of Lexington. Blower later returned to Afghanistan and then was donated to the Asheboro Police Department. Baks was placed with Master Police Officer Terry Jones, who had recently lost his K-9 to medical problems.Baks served with the Asheboro Police Department as a full-service patrol K-9 specializing in explosives detection. He was on the N.C. Bomb Dog Task Force and he and Jones conducted hundreds of protective sweeps across the state.Jones and Baks left the Asheboro Police Department in 2010 to train Marines and their K-9s to search for IEDs, through K2 Solutions, Inc., based in Southern Pines.Jones and Baks remained on as reserve deputies with the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office until October 2014. At that time, Jones and Baks were hired by Sheriff Maynard Reid and returned to full-time law enforcement duty with the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office.Baks has served as the sheriff’s office’s only full-service K-9 specializing in explosives since February of 2012 when their other explosives detection K-9 Zena passed away. Baks was utilized for explosives, weapons, tracking and article searches during his service with the sheriff’s office.Baks’ remains were transported to Precious Memories in Greensboro for cremation. His remains received a law enforcement escort through Randolph County in honor of his dedicated and selfless service.

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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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