K-9 Officer Reagan Dies At 11, After Serving Poughkeepsie For 8 years

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — A canine officer that served the Town of Poughkeepsie for eight years has died. The Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department announced Tuesday the death of K-9 Reagan on April 30. Reagan was 11 years old and served with Police Officer Vanja Mikelic.

Mikelic and Reagan, a German Shepherd Dog, completed basic patrol school in November 2007 and narcotics detection in March 2008.

The team earned certification from the North American Police Work Dog Association and the National Narcotics Detector Dog Association in both patrol and narcotics detection in 2009 and 2010.

[Get Patch’s Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts here.]

In 2011, they earned certification from the Eastern Police Canine Association in Patrol and Street Ready Patrol Dob and Patrol Narcotics Level 1.

K-9 Reagan was also one of five dogs, over a 22-year period and more than 200 teams competing, that earned the EPCA Tracking title, which is considered one of the most difficult tracking tests given anywhere in the world by any K-9 organization.

K-9 Reagan retired from active duty in 2015.

During her tenure, she recovered more than 20 pounds of illegal narcotics, 99 pieces of evidence, including four guns, and tracked and located 32 criminal suspects.

In addition to her law enforcement duties, Reagan performed at more than 100 K-9 demonstrations for community groups, schools and churches.

Reagan died at home with her partner and the rest of the Mikelic family.

Image via Shutterstock.