K-9 officer Kash still missing after eleventh day, reward offered
Oct 24, 2024, 5:42 PM | Updated: Nov 1, 2024, 1:25 pm
FARMINGTON — Day eleven in the search for K-9 officer Kash, who took off from his handler outside the Davis County Jail on Monday, Oct. 21, and still no sign of him.
Now, the Davis County Sheriff’s Office is offering a $1,000 reward for Kash’s safe return. The sheriff’s office has since reported that “a generous Davis County resident” has offered to match that amount, bringing the total reward to $2,000.
“If you have Kash, we understand you may feel intimidated to come forward. If this is the case, we ask you to take Kash to Animal Care of Davis County,” the Davis County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. “You can also contact Davis Dispatch to request that Kash be picked up in a neutral location.”
The reward announcement came two days after the Sheriff’s Office said it was suspending the active search for Kash, saying they “exhausted all ground and aerial searches,” and “investigated every tip.”
“This, of course, does not mean that Kash has been forgotten about and that our office is no longer trying to locate him,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
The 1-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer was off-leash for a bathroom break around 9:00 p.m. when he darted towards the Farmington Bay area. Since then, deputies, DWR officers and county animal control officers had been looking for him – using drones and posting photos to social media groups.
“Right now, we do think that it is likely that someone may have picked him up and not realize that he is a K-9 officer and may have him at home,” Dinsmore said. “And so, we are making a plea to them to please come forward, please let us know that you have him and please return him.”
Kash is new to the Davis County Sheriff’s Office — he was donated in mid-September. His handler is also new to the K-9 program and has yet to undergo any POST K-9 training. A review is now underway to determine if the handler violated any of the department’s K-9 policies.
“We do expect more of ourselves and we want to ensure that everything that we’re doing we’re doing properly,” Dinsmore said.
Kash is not microchipped and was not wearing I.D. tags or a sheriff’s office GPS collar when he ran off, and Dinsmore said the Sheriff’s Office is still in the process of getting those tags and devices. She also said if anyone encounters Kash, he’ll likely be friendly and want to play fetch.
“K-9 Kash is very energetic, he’s extremely friendly,” she said. “When he does complete his post training, he is not going to be trained as an apprehension or bite animal, he will be undergoing narcotics training and substance detection, so he will be an asset to our corrections division and this will be a brand-new program that we were launching,” she said.
If Kash has been picked up, he can be returned at any animal shelter or by calling the sheriff’s office dispatch at 801-451-4150.
Contributing: Jacob Freeman, KSL TV