K9 Justice – Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Virgina

Died 5/11/20
Handler – Officer Wayne Billhimer

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries mourns the loss of K9 officer

The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) is mourning the loss of a four-legged officer. DGIF said on Monday that K9 Justice, a nine-year veteran of the department’s Conservation Police K9 program passed away after a bout with cancer. K9 Justice retired from service on Jan. 22, 2020. Partnered with Senior CPO Wayne Billhimer, he and his wife Molly, adopted Justice and cared for him during his retirement and treatment. “It’s hard to put into words, the bond we shared. He was part of my family,” Billhimer said. “He was truly my best friend, who I, fortunately, got to take to work with me.” The pair worked together of evidence detection, suspect tracking, missing person searches, wildlife violation identification and public outreach. K9 Justice and Billhimer’s most notable cases was a successful three-mile track of a suspected turkey poacher in Shenandoah County. That case resulted in a seizure of 52 pairs of turkey wings and a conviction for the suspect. “The seizures related to that case are on display in the lobby at DGIF headquarters,” Naff noted. “I don’t think that he viewed tracking bad guys or finding hidden guns as work; it was a game to him, which he loved,” Billhimer said. “I think that’s what made him excel and be one of the top K9s. It was fun to him to find lost children, track down fugitives running from us, or uncover someone hiding too many trout. It was something he enjoyed doing. “Justice taught me lots of things in our time together, but one thing that stands out is perseverance,” Billhimer continued. “Some of the hardest cases we did were older cases, so we didn’t start working the case until a few days after the crime. Justice would push through and never give up. The only time he would stop was when I would physically stop him and say, ‘We’re done.’ We tracked a suspect once and went seven miles. I was exhausted, but not once did Justice give up. He just kept going.”

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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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