Washington State Patrol K-9 narcotics officer dies from cancer
Sep 5, 2016, 8:20 AM
Washington State Patrol K-9 officer "Ice" died from an illness on Sunday. (Washington State Patrol)
(Washington State Patrol)
The Washington State Patrol lost one of its four-legged officers Sunday when K-9 officer Ice died from cancer.
Related: Day in the life of a Seattle Police K9
Trooper Scott Genoway has been Ice’s handler and partner since October of 2008, after Ice was brought to the force as a rescue dog. The black lab-pit bull mix was believed to be about 1.5-years-old when the WSP adopted him from the Humane Society, making Ice approximately 9.5-years old at his death.
WSP Narcotics K-9 “ICE” passed away today due to illness. Partner of K-9 Handler Genoway. GONE : NOT FORGOTTEN! pic.twitter.com/EyUfDT1zO8
— Trooper Rick Johnson (@wspd2pio) September 4, 2016
WSP spokesperson Trooper Rick Johnson, who had worked alongside Genoway and Ice, called the K-9 officer “high energy.”
“You would get near the car … and he would bark like he was going to jump out and attack you, but he wouldn’t hurt anybody,” Johnson said. “His job, he did it very well.”
Three narcotic detection teams were deployed in 1998 to counties identified by High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) in the central Puget Sound region and Yakima. Because of the program’s success, eight additional narcotic detection teams were added to Washington’s remaining HIDTA counties. According to the WSP Canine Training Unit, the narcotic teams provide support for the field force, local task forces, and federal agencies on multi-jurisdictional warrants.
As a narcotics dog, Ice had different responsibilities than the nine bomb-sniffing K9 officers that graduated for the WSP on Friday.
K-9 officers live with their handles but are not treated as normal family dogs until after the dogs retire and are adopted by the handler as a pet, Johnson said. This was Trooper Genoway’s second K-9 partner and he’s expecting to team up with another.
“There’s definitely a huge bond between the handler and the dog,” Johnson said. “…“It’s been an emotional few days or week for (Genoway) but he’ll definitely get through this and he’s got a lot of support around him.”
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