Tuesday marked the retirement day for one of the most successful K9 deputies in the history of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office according to the agency.
The Sheriff's Office held a retirement celebration Tuesday and spoiled Taz with toys and dog-friendly cake.
K9 Taz started with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office in November of 2017 and since then has worked alongside state, local and federal law enforcement agencies across the Front Range.
During Taz's six years of service, he had an impressive record. He has been deployed with SWAT teams 370 times and has been deployed a total of 1,240 times across his career. Taz has apprehended 9 criminals and been involved in a total of $1.7 million in narcotics seizures.
Throughout his career, those seizures produced a total of 22 lbs of cocaine, 16 lbs of methamphetamine and 12 lbs of black tar heroin. Taz's retirement comes after he sustained two significant injuries following deployments during SWAT situations. During these deployments, Taz apprehended three violent individuals according to the sheriff's office.
The sheriff's office says he only has one favorite stuffed animal, a pink unicorn pictured above. Taz will retire with his partner Deputy Witherite, but has a family member that is still a part of the department, K9 Dex.
According to Project Paws Alive, an organization dedicated to providing lifesaving K9 safety equipment to K9 officers nationwide, a total of 18 K9 officers died in 2022. One of these officers was a local member of the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, K9 Deputy Jinx.
Deputy Jinx died in the line of duty in April 2022 responding to a shooting investigation. As officers were attempting to apprehend a suspect, that individual shot Jinx, Jinx would die in the line of duty.
Following the death of K9 Jinx, efforts were made by Jinx's handler to increase the penalties for those who injure or kill K9 officers. Jinx's law was signed into law by Governor Polis in June of 2022, effectively increasing the monetary penalties for the cruelty of working service and police dogs, as well as police working horses.
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