Retired New London Police Dog Dies

Cynthia Johnson, police secretary in the New London Police Department, made this announcement today:

The is mourning the loss of one of its finest.

Kiva, who was the K-9 partner of Officer Chad Stringer (retired), served the department faithfully and with honor for seven years, retiring from active service on July 1, 2008.

During Kiva’s tenure, he was best known and recognized for his tracking skills. Kiva had many tracking successes by locating persons who were suffering from Alzheimer’s as well as tracking missing youth and suspects who had committed criminal acts. K-9 handler Stringer received many letters from appreciative family members for Kiva’s strong tracking abilities.

Kiva was a police K-9 who used his teeth, but only when absolutely necessary. Another proud story is one of a man who wanted to entice officers to shoot him by attacking them, a suicide by cop. Kiva was able to successfully subdue the man without serious injury to anyone involved.

He was a working patrol dog, but Kiva was also a teacher. He was active in
demonstrating his skills to other departments and children throughout the area. One memento children always seemed to be excited to receive was Kiva’s colorful baseball-style card.

Kiva, who began his life on November 4, 1999 in Czechoslovakia, was 12 years old whenhe was laid to final rest. The members of the New London Police Department are proud of and thankful for the work Kiva did for the citizens. We extend our deepest sympathies to the Stringer family, who were able to enjoy and love him as their family pet when this exemplary K-9 officer was off-duty.