K9 Remington – North Jersey , New Jersey

Handler – Officer Chris Nichols

Trusted, Reliable North Jersey Police Bloodhound Dies

She was one of North Jersey’s most trusted and reliable investigators. She found missing adults and children as well as criminals and contraband. Maywood police bloodhound Remi died this weekend. She was only 5½ years old.It was a difficult Father’s Day for Officer Chris Nichols.Remington had given “everything she had, performing beyond anything I could have ever expected,” he said.She was “my best friend through some of the most challenging times of life,” Nichols wrote.Remi was certified in late 2017.At the time, she and former K-9 Zoey gave Maywood the only two police bloodhounds in Bergen County.Bloodhounds are the only law enforcement K-9 able to “scent discriminate,” meaning they trail one scent, ignoring all others, to its conclusion.This “makes them extremely useful in situations involving contamination and lengthy time frames,” the department wrote when introducing Remi — who went on to become so popular she had her own Facebook page.Letting his partner go was the “most painful decision of my life,” Nichols said.”In our arms, at 5:30 [Sunday] morning, she peacefully passed on,” he wrote.”There is a hole in our hearts that will never be filled and our family is forever changed,” Nichols added. “We miss her terribly already…”

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.