SPD welcomes new four-legged officer

Kodak becomes the fourth sworn K-9 officer at the Sarasota Police Department.

By Andrew Warfield
| 5:00 a.m. February 11, 2023

Kodak is the fourth member of the Sarasota Police Department's K-9 unit.

Sarasota
News

The Sarasota Police Department has sworn in a new four-legged law enforcement officer.

K-9 Kodak with his handler SPD Officer Paul Gagnon.

Czech Republic-born K-9 Kodak, a German shepherd, has completed 640 hours of initial training with handler Officer Paul Gagnon. Training includes patrol work, tracking, building searches, area searches, article searches and apprehension.

Gagnon joined the SPD K-9 unit in 2021 and is certified by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as a K-9 handler.

When not helping solve crimes at work, Kodak, who celebrated his second birthday on Feb. 8, enjoys taking long walks on the beach, playing ball and chewing on things that should not be chewed on.

The Sarasota Police Department K-9 unit currently has four dogs and four handlers.

author

Andrew Warfield

Andrew Warfield is the Sarasota Observer city reporter. He is a four-decade veteran of print media. A Florida native, he has spent most of his career in the Carolinas as a writer and editor, nearly a decade as co-founder and editor of a community newspaper in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.