Police dogs show off skills at K9 trials


9 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

OGDEN — K9 officers from around the state were in Ogden for the Utah Peace Officer Association K9 Trials on Sunday.

More than 60 dogs and their handlers ran an obstacle course at the Weber County Fairgrounds. The dogs are trained to protect and serve.

One K9, Kilo, and his partner Deputy Brett Lawrenson with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office have been partners for the past four years.

Kilo’s very first find was with a narcotics task force warrant, and his first find was a kilo of narcotics.

Since then, Kilo and Lawrenson have tracked down everything from drugs to suspects.

“He’s definitely taken a lot off the streets,” Lawrenson said. “A lot of bad guys, a lot of bad stuff.”

The Utah County Sheriff’s Office has eight K9 officers. One officer was Sgt. Cory Wride, who was killed in the line of duty in early 2014.

“He was a great man, great deputy, great handler, great sergeant,” Lawrenson said.

Sunday’s K9 trials included a tribute to Wride and Sgt. Derek Johnson with the Draper City Police Department, who also was a K9 handler before being killed in the line of duty.

Kilo and Lawrenson both understand they are putting their lives on the line every day.

“Is my dog’s life worth more than a human life? No, it is not,” Lawrenson said. "I love him. He’s part of my family. He goes home with me every day. I spend more time with him than I do my wife. But that being said, I would sacrifice him to save another life if that’s what it came down to.”

Lawrenson and Kilo will keep working as a team to make sure they’re together for a long time to come.

Photos

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Tania Mashburn

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast