Today, the Newark Police Department (NPD) has announced that longtime Newark K-9 Officer, K9 Sjors, has passed away.
“It is with great sadness that the Newark Police Department reports that after a long battle with degenerative myelopathy, retired NPD K9 Sjors passed away this weekend.”. read a statement released by the department.
K9 Sjors was born in the Netherlands and was imported into the United States by Vohne Liche Kennels, in Denver, Indiana. After arriving in the US, K9 Sjors was tested and selected by his future handler, NPD Cpl. Marty La Rue, in 2008. The pair completed canine training and entered service as a Newark Police dual purpose canine team later that year. They served the citizens of Newark and the region as a team until K9 Sjors retired in 2016.
During his career, K9 Sjors was deployed on over 800 vehicle and building searches, 83 human tracks, hundreds of burglar alarms, and numerous fugitive apprehensions. Additionally, as a dual-purpose canine specialized in narcotics detection, K9 Sjors was responsible for well over $200,000.00 in cash seizures, the seizure of hundreds of items of drug paraphernalia, over 8,000 grams of cocaine, thousands of grams of marijuana, heroin, PCP, MDMA, and methamphetamines.
“Throughout his career and in retirement, K9 Sjors was a treasured family member and will be missed.”
During his career, he put his skills on display before thousands of people while conducting over 250 demonstrations. K9 Sjors was always the professional, very sociable and quickly became a favorite of those in the community. Residents of Newark would often see the pair when they were participating in the annual Main Street Mile demonstration. Since his retirement in 2016, K9 Sjors has brought a great deal of joy to the La Rue family.
“The officers and employees of the Newark Police Department remember K9 Sjors fondly and wish to extend our sympathies to the La Rue family during this difficult time. K9 Sjors will be fondly remembered and greatly missed.