Died 7\/28\/23
\nHandler – Sgt. Andrew White<\/p>\n
Olive Branch mourns loss of K9 police dog Zak<\/p>\n
A brief memorial service was held late Friday morning, Aug. 4 inside the Olive Branch Municipal Court building for one of the city\u2019s finest; certainly one of the police department\u2019s best on four legs. K9 Officer Zak, one of two K9 dogs with the Olive Branch Police Department, unexpectedly died on July 28, the same day it was discovered Zak was suffering from cancer. Members of the police department, other K9 officers, and Mayor Ken Adams were on hand Friday to support Zak\u2019s partner\/handler Police Sgt. Andrew White and his family. \u201cWords cannot communicate enough our appreciation for you, Sgt. White, that you have worked so exhaustively with and alongside Officer Zak,\u201d said police chaplain Dr. John Wallace Jr. of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. \u201cOur prayers are continually toward all of you to whom Officer Zak has tremendously impacted. Our K9 Officer Zak was the embodiment of love as seen by all of those among his workforce colleagues who were fortunate enough to have encountered him.\u201d Zak and K9 Officer Flip were the two K9 dogs that were on the police force. Police Chief Bill Cox said Zak was a very valued member of the department. \u201cHe was a K9 that was always available to us,\u201d Cox said. \u201cHe was one that was very responsive. He worked very hard and he worked very well with his handler. We\u2019re definitely going to miss having Zak on our team.\u201dZak passed handler\u2019s school in 2017, Cox said, and has been with the Olive Branch department since then. Cox said K9s are an invaluable resource to what the police department does. \u201cK9s have so many functions that they assist with, not only searching for drugs and drug paraphernalia, but searches for lost or missing individuals, search and recovery, all those things that K9s can be trained to do,\u201d Cox said. \u201cA K9 can be trained in many areas that are valuable to a department and the assistance they can provide across a range of actions.\u201d Cox said a K9 will be brought into the department but because of the unexpected nature of Zak\u2019s passing, the search for a new K9 had not started yet. \u201cWe will begin that process very shortly,\u201d Cox said. Friday\u2019s memorial service ended with a dispatcher radio transmission fed into the court chambers stating, \u201cK9 Officer Zak, your service is appreciated. End of watch, July 28, 2023. We\u2019ll take it from here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Died 7\/28\/23 Handler – Sgt. Andrew White Olive Branch mourns loss of K9 police dog Zak A brief memorial service was held late Friday morning, Aug. 4 inside the Olive Branch Municipal Court building for one of the city\u2019s finest; certainly one of the police department\u2019s best on four legs. K9 Officer Zak, one of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-14558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-k9memorial","tag-ms"],"yoast_head":"\n