The Lynnwood Police Department has lost a member of its family.

Lynnwood Police Canine Officer “Vader” passed away recently after a sudden, major medical emergency.

Vader worked hard tracking criminals and recovering evidence right up until the very end. He was 7 years old.

Vader leaves behind his devoted handler, Officer Curtis Zatylny and Zatylny’s wife and children.

“It may sound odd, but to me, Vader was more than a dog… He was the eyes in the back of my head, my ‘Spidey-sense’ … my guardian,” Zatylny said.

During his tenure, Vader had nearly 150 captures, together with 36 evidence finds.

In addition to being a master-level tracking dog, Vader and Officer Zatylny were also a cross-trained K9 team which also located narcotics in Lynnwood and all over the Snohomish County region.

Vader’s stats show he traced illegal drugs 25 times out of 30 and over the years has located a total of $63,858.00 in cash.

Lynnwood Police Chief Steve Jensen said Vader touched everyone at the Lynnwood Police Department and will be sorely missed. “Officer Zatylny and his canine partner Vader together apprehended a great many criminal suspects and enhanced the safety of the public and our officers,” Jensen said.

Sgt. David Byrd, the supervisor of the department’s K9 Unit, said Vader had an excellent reputation through-out the Police-K9 community and was unique in how social he was with the public of all ages.

Zatylny said the City of Lynnwood and Snohomish County have lost a great 4-legged Officer. “He was a great partner, he loved my family, and he was a good friend… I will never forget him.”

Vader was part of the Lynnwood Police Department’s four-team K9 Unit. The Unit plans to refill this integral position.

The Lynnwood Police Officers Association (LPOA) has a non-profit fund set-aside for this K9 Unit. Anyone wishing to make donations to this cause may do so by making checks payable to the “LPOA” attention Lynnwood K9 Unit.

The other three team members of our K9 unit are: “Buddy” whose partner is Officer Cole Langdon, “Eli,” whose partner is Officer Jake Shorthill and “Zando,” whose partner is Officer Joe Dickinson.