The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has announced the death of retired K9 Axel.
The dog served in the sheriff’s office from February 2013 until his retirement in August 2021.
K9 Axel died at home Aug. 8 while surrounded by the family of his handler, Field Operations Bureau Chief Rick Van Wyck, according to the sheriff’s office. He was 12 years old.
Over the course of his career, K9 Axel and Van Wyck are credited with capturing 39 suspects and locating 117 items of evidence and stolen property. The duo is also credited with the discovery of 397.3 pounds of drugs and more than 1,600 oxycodone pills, with an estimated value of more than $4 million.
“Rest easy, Axel,” the sheriff’s office posted in a tribute on social media. “Thank you for your service.”
After Axel’s retirement, the sheriff’s office went without a K9 team for about three years, due in part to changes in Washington state law.
While the sheriff’s office had the resources to get a new K9 for several years, the sheriff’s office decided to “wait until the dust settled a bit” on the police reform laws that went into effect in 2021, Van Wyck told The Chronicle earlier this year.
“Our thought was, and the sheriff’s thought was … ‘we’re not going to waste donated money and have to get rid of the dog,’” Van Wyck said.
One of the reform laws passed by the state Legislature in 2021 banned the use of certain police tactics, including the use of police dogs for arresting and apprehending people. Under the new law, K9s could still be used for tracking, search and rescue and narcotics detection.
Several police departments across Washington state, including the Battle Ground Police Department, suspended their K9 programs or limited K9 use after the law went into effect.
Washington lawmakers passed several amendments to the reforms in 2022, including one that clarified when officers could use force, including police dogs, for arrests.
Once the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office decided it was safe for them to get a new K9, Van Wyck said, “then it’s a process of finding your handler, a dog, then four or five months of training after that.”
Earlier this year, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office announced its new K9 team.
Deputy Jared Kasinger and K9 Kimbo are now on duty.
Kimbo is a 2-year-old German shepherd originally from Holland and selected by Gold Coast K9 near Malibu, California, where Kasinger met him.
In late January, Kasinger and Kimbo began their 400 hours of training through the Vancouver Police Department’s K9 academy, followed by 200 hours of narcotics detection training.
They were certified for both patrol and narcotics detection as of May 29, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
For narcotics, “Kimbo is certified with meth, heroin and cocaine,” Kasinger said in June, adding that Kimbo will train for detection of fentanyl, using a dog-safe pseudo drug to practice.
The sheriff’s office intends to primarily use Kimbo to apprehend fleeing suspects and to detect narcotics, in addition to weekly visits to the Lewis County Jail.
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office K9 program is fully donation based, with the money coming primarily from community members and local businesses.
