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Died – 11/17/19
Handler – Det. Sgt. Mark Kearns
K-9 Kodiak, credited for 130 arrests and rallying a community, dies unexpectedly
A K-9 who served four years in drug detection and tracking for the city police department, and who would be credited with more than 100 arrests before he retired, died unexpectedly Sunday. The Ogdensburg Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association issued a statement Tuesday saying K-9 Kodiak, who served the police department from June 2014 to January 2018, suffered an unforeseen medical emergency Sunday, Nov. 17. Kodiak was rushed to the Canton Animal Clinic and then transferred to the Alta Vista Animal Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario. Kodiak, with his partner Det. Sgt. Mark Kearns by his side, died while at the animal hospital. “It is with a heavy heart to report the untimely passing of retired K9 Kodiak,” the statement said. “Kodiak was loved by many to include his fellow officers of the Ogdensburg Police Department, the law enforcement community, his friends and trainers of the American Working Dog Association, the citizens of Ogdensburg, and the Kearns family.” Kodiak was the first police dog to serve the Ogdensburg department. At the time, the department was new to the program and didn’t have all the funding and equipment necessary for a K-9 unit. The community, however, fell for Kodiak and started donating. “The community really rallied behind us from the beginning,” Mr. Kearns said. Since the community helped make the K-9 unit a possibility, and Kodiak was a driver of that, there will be a memorial service scheduled at a later date, likely within the next month. Mr. Kearns started training with Kodiak when the dog was 5 weeks old. Kodiak would start on the department when he was 1, working in drug detection, evidence location and tracking. If there was a burglary, Kodiak would be on the scene looking for anything the suspect might have dropped. “He did do that several times,” Mr. Kearns said. Kodiak would go on to be credited with 130 arrests. The K-9 retired in January 2018 because Mr. Kearns was reassigned to the investigations unit in the department, a job he said the experience with Kodiak prepared him for.“The thing I was most proud of with Kodiak was when officers had already searched a scene for evidence and thought nothing was there, and then Kodiak would come and find it,” Mr. Kearns said. “Those were very proud moments, when his nose solved the case.”
