K9 Cibo – Hamilton, Tennessee

Died – 7/30/23
Handler –

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Mourns The Passing Of Retired K-9 Cibo

On Sunday, July 30, 2023, retired Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Cibo, a Belgian Malinois, passed away peacefully in the presence of two of his handlers. Cibo began his law enforcement career with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office in 2015 and was a multi-purpose canine trained in narcotics detection, evidence recovery and tracking. Cibo served the HCSO and the citizens of Hamilton County honorably and faithfully from 2015 to his retirement to his handler in 2020. During his law enforcement career, Cibo is credited with numerous seizures resulting in the recovery of pounds of marijuana, meth, heroin, cocaine, crack and MDMA, and $100,000’s of dollars of drug money. He was also instrumental in many conveyance seizures and in locating numerous fleeing felons and lost or missing endangered adults and children. Throughout his career, he spent thousands of hours in training to perfect his craft. Cibo will be remembered for his social and playful temperament, and while he enjoyed being petted and interaction from all of his law enforcement family, those who knew him best knew his true love was his ball, which he never had far from him. “Our agency was blessed to have K-9 Cibo serve this county for five years, and during that time he performed a great service to both this agency and our community. Let it never be underestimated, our K-9’s play a pivotal role in our daily operations and we value their service. K-9 Cibo will be greatly missed by this agency and particularly those who had the distinct privilege to work with him and ultimately care for him throughout his well-deserved retirement,” said Sheriff Austin Garrett. “Please join with us as we mourn HCSO K-9 Cibo’s passing and remember his service and dedication to the HCSO and the citizens of Hamilton County,” officials said.

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.