- December 14, 2024
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Port Orange Police Officer Richard Clark clearly remembers the first time he saw his K-9 partner Jax. It was in September 2014, a few days after Clark had been notified he would be on the K-9 unit.
Clark was with another officer to test two dogs. The first dog, a large German shepherd, was, in Clark’s opinion, what a K-9 should look like. However, when the dog was put through the paces, it was clear the German shepherd wasn’t the right fit.
When a dog, described by Clark as “little, raggedy” came out and went through the same test, it clear he was the right choice.
This was Jax.
For more than three years, Jax served on the Port Orange Police Department alongside Clark. His final day with the department was on Oct. 15, 2017. The next day, the police department announced that 4-year-old Jax had died after complications from an illness.
But the police K-9 would not be forgotten.
On Wednesday, Oct. 18, after a morning rain, the Port Orange Police Department and members of the community gathered for a memorial service.
“Jax was a great family member, and he was a great friend, and he was also a great police dog,” Clark said, adding that Jax “really was my best friend. He was also an integral part of my family. ... There are endless stories of Jax cracking everyone up. After everything we’ve been through, those memories are the things I’m really going to miss.”
While with the department, Jax and Clark reported six apprehensions, two by force; located 10 people; performed 244 narcotics searches; seized 1,530 grams of cannabis, 10 grams of cocaine, $19,767, and one vehicle, all while working together over the course of 500 shifts and training together for more than 1,550 hours.
“What they did share together was that intangible quality of hard work,” Community Relations and Public Information Officer Evan Doyle said. “They had that in spades, that, along with a mutual admiration for each, and a love for the job they did together.”
For Port Orange Police Chief Thomas Grimaldi, Jax had not one but two families — his family at the Port Orange Police Department and the Clark family. Grimaldi also recalled getting to see Jax interact with students at Sweetwater Elementary this past spring, describing the K-9 as sweet and loyal.
