Mississauga, Brampton cops bid farewell to fallen K9 colleague

Published February 2, 2023 at 9:59 am

Stark served in the Peel police K9 Unit since 2019. (Photo: Peel Regional Police)

Police in Mississauga and Brampton are mourning the loss of another four-legged partner in crime fighting.

Peel Regional Police service dog Stark, a five-year-old Belgian Shepherd who served full-time in the K9 Unit since 2019, died this week after a short battle with cancer.

In a post to social media, officials with the Peel police K9 Unit said that Stark and his partner, Const. Jason Senechal, “served and protected our Region with honour and passion for the past four years.”

Stark began his training with the Peel force in February 2019 and after 16 weeks graduated to full-time duty along with Kylo, also a Belgian Shepherd brought to Peel from Holland the previous year with Stark.

The dogs’ graduation video can be seen below.

Kylo was featured in an insauga.com story last November detailing his strong work that helped Peel cops make a drug bust and nab five thieves on the same shift.

Stark was one of 14 dogs used by Peel police to carry out any number of policing duties as a member of the K9 Unit.

The four-legged members of Peel’s K9 Unit are trained to track criminals, locate missing people who may be in trouble, detect explosives, search for evidence, conduct building searches and sniff out drugs among various other tasks.

Today, we said good-bye to Police Service Dog Stark, as his short battle with cancer came to an end. He and his partner, Cst. Senechal, served and protected our Region with honour and passion for the past 4 years.

RIP Stark, you will be missed.

EOW 2023-02-01 pic.twitter.com/Fy3oOdrL9s

— Peel Police K9 Unit (@PRPK9) February 1, 2023

K9 Unit officers say they’re always looking for places to train their service dogs. Peel police need empty or unused buildings, office complexes, large houses and commercial/manufacturing premises.

They say it’s important that their police dogs receive training in realistic venues to prepare them for duty.

Last fall, one of the force’s longest-serving and most highly decorated police dogs died.

Argo, a Belgian Shepherd who helped his partner make 366 arrests in Mississauga and Brampton since 2013, died on Oct. 26 of natural causes.

He was 11 years old.

Together, Argo and his partner responded to more than 2,600 calls across Peel in their years together and they earned multiple commendations.

Check out Stark and Kylo’s K9 Unit graduation video below.