HISTORY
The City of Burlington Police K-9 Unit was the first in Burlington County and was started back in March of 1965, nearly 50 years ago. The first K-9 Officer and partner on the force back than was Marino (Bud) Sasdelli and his 100 pound German Shepard King. Officer Sasdelli donated his canine King and they trained together to be a major asset to the Police force. The Unit was created as a special force for evening patrols and officer protection and quickly grew to include Officer Harry Morgan and his K-9 partner, Sergeant. The first canine vehicle was a 1965 Chevrolet Biscayne Wagon.
During the 1970’s the force had Officer Nicholas Abate and his K-9 Zeus that was also trained in apprehension and search. In the early 1990’s we had Lt. Patrick Edwardson and his black Labrador retriever partner Scandy and his brown Labrador Buster who were trained in narcotics detection. There were quite a few years until the early 2000’s when there were no K-9’s on the City of Burlington Police force.
In 2001 then Officer Alan Snow now Retired Chief Alan Snow, and his K-9 partner Rocky once again revived the Unit with the help of community supporters and funding. The Unit was once again up and barking. Over the past 20 years the City of Burlington Police force has had ten dedicated K-9’s on the force. All of our K-9’s and their handlers have been trained at the Philadelphia Police K-9 Academy in specific scent recognition and tracking services. Training doesn’t stop at graduation; these dogs and their dedicated handlers continue training as long as they are on the force.
In the past years we have had to say a tearful goodbye to K9 Rocky, K9 Mic, K9 Odie, K9 Max, K9 Deuce, K9 Tonto and K9 Kobi who served our officers and Community well. These dogs were dedicated K-9 officers, partners and family friends.
