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Died 8/19/20
Handler – Officer Christopher Laver
Hackettstown PD mourn death of first K-9 Jada
The Hackettstown Police Department is mourning the loss of their first crime-fighting canine officer, whose life was abruptly cut short at the age of 5. K-9 Jada, a Belgian Malinois, died Wednesday evening after suffering a medical emergency while on-duty with her handler, Officer Christopher Laver, according to police. Jada, who joined the Hackettstown police on July 14, 2016, was rushed to Newton Veterinary Hospital and suffered a cardiac-related issue, Laver posted on Facebook. “Right now I am numb, I am sad and I just want to let everyone know that I am grateful but definitely need time to process this,” said Laver, who adopted Jada when she was a puppy. Laver, who started his career with the Sussex County Sheriff’s Department before joining the Hackettstown force in 2011, said he approached the police chief and Town Council about starting a K9 unit. He had already started training Jada on his own and pitched that the cost of a fully-certified K-9 can run a municipality just $15,000. Laver and Jada were selected as the department’s K-9 team after tryouts; and graduated from the Union County Sheriff’s K-9 patrol class in 2017. She was certified in narcotics detention, missing persons, lost items and weapons. She often showed off her skills at K-9 demonstrations across Warren and Sussex counties. Jada and Laver made their mark when they secured $2,000 for the K-9 unit in January after placing fourth nationwide in a grant contest run by Illinois-based Aftermath Services. The two-month-long competition in 2019, run by a company that specializes in crime scene bio-hazard remediation, involved nearly 400 nominated agencies, with communities supporting their local departments by casting over 484,000 votes online. Hackettstown received 14,500 votes. Police also told the New Jersey Herald that Jada was key in helping track down and arrest 57-year-old Jeffrey Mulcahy in September 2019 after he allegedly held a young couple at gunpoint in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Warren County and then fled the scene. Jada has also helped nab a car thief in Newark and located a knife used in an attempted murder in the city, police previously said.
