Salt Lake County DA’s Office Writes $10,000 Check For New Police K-9

Posted on | January 16, 2010 | No Comments

I didn’t write anything about this incident when it happened New Year’s Day because it was such a sad story, and I didn’t really think we all needed to hear one more sad story. Still very sad, but now something smart has come from it, and seems to me it’s a model that oughtta be adopted everywhere.

The sad part is that Koda, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois working dog in Midvale, UT, was shot and killed by a suspected robber who was himself killed by police during the same chase.

“Officers mourn K-9 killed on duty“

The smart part is that the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office decided to use $10,000 from their asset forfeiture funds, money seized from criminals for evidence in court cases, to pay for a new dog for Midvale. Their logic was that a lot of that evidence is obtained as a direct result of the work of K-9s like Koda, and it’s only fitting and proper (not to mention a good investment, if you think about it) to fund a new dog.

“Assets seized in county crimes to help fund K9 for Midvale“

Not being an expert by any stretch in this area, I have no idea how common this is, but seems to me it’s not, although it should be. The vast majority of the time I hear about funding for police dogs, it’s usually a story about a department trying to find the money to get a dog in the first place.

Big kudos to the Salt Lake County DA’s office for doing this and setting a great example.