Deputies from the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Department K-9 unit gathered in Becker to perform a sad duty last Friday afternoon as one of their canine officers had to be humanely euthanized after developing an aggressive form of cancer.
They were joined by law enforcement representatives from other agencies and the family and friends of Sgt. Adam Boler, who walked Phoenix, the department’s explosives detection-trained K-9, through a double line of officers standing at attention at the entrance to the Becker Veterinary Clinic. Boler and Phoenix had been partners for the past six years, and he carried her favorite red toy in his hand as they entered the building.
While the K-9 officers live with their human partners and their families when not on duty, they are much more than pets. They are trained to go into dangerous situations to reduce the risk to human officers, and will and have sacrificed their own lives to defend their human handlers in high-risk confrontations.
In a subsequent interview, Boler said that he often jokingly said that he spent more time with his canine partner than he did with his family. Phoenix was located by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport Police and trained in explosives detection there before coming to the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Department six years ago. Earlier this year, Boler and Phoenix had competed in the 2014 United States Police Canine Association National Detector Trials, which included 24 canine/handler teams from around the nation.
In that competition, they received national certification and achieved top-five finishes in several categories. They also combined with a team from the Airport Police to win a first place regional team trophy.
Phoenix had developed a cough in the past few weeks, Boler said, and examinations at the Becker clinic and the University of Minnesota Veterinary Hospital revealed that she had developed an aggressive and fast-moving lymphoma, a form of cancer that could not be effectively treated. That led to the difficult decision to euthanize her before the disease advanced any further, he said.
It was an emotional afternoon for Boler and his family and friends, as well as for his fellow officers and the staff at the clinic.
A photo of Phoenix and the other K-9 officers in the SCSD hangs in a place of honor at the clinic.
