National Police Week: EPD K-9 unit takes us behind the badge

Posted: May 17, 2023 / 05:23 PM CDT

Updated: May 17, 2023 / 05:30 PM CDT

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT)– It’s National Police Week, a time to honor the sacrifices and dedication of the men and women in blue. Today, we spoke with a K-9 handler and officer about why they decided to join the force.

Each day, Evansville K-9 handler Cory Offerman and his K-9 officer, Cash, suit up to keep the city safe. Offerman is the K-9 Unit Supervisor for the Evansville Police Department. Cash was a little over a year old when Offerman brought him home. Now at five and a half years old, the pair are inseparable.

“In Evansville, they come home with us and live with us 24/7 and they do become like our children,” Offerman says.

Offerman has worked in law enforcement for the past 12 years. He served on the south sector for the first 6 years before becoming a K-9 handler.

“Being a K-9 is a unique position, it’s probably one of the most constantly dangerous jobs on the department, but it is a constantly rewarding job as well,” Offerman says.

The crime fighting duo recently received national recognition.

“John Montgomery, another K-9 handler and his partner, Dock and K-9 Cash and I, we were all a team for the USPCA National Detector Trial,” Offerman says.

The team won third place, which Offerman says was surprising.

“It was really cool, something I did not expect to win,” he says.

Over the years, Offerman says they have apprehended dozens of people, but says one case in particular stands out. In 2021, they were serving a felony warrant when the suspect ran out of a home with a gun.

“Then K-9 Cash apprehended him. But during the apprehension, he pulled a gun out and the suspect and I wrestled over the gun, and he fired a round off right by Cash’s head. But the whole time Cash stayed on the apprehension. If it was not for Cash, am sure officers would have been shot at,” Offerman says.

Cash was awarded for his bravery with the Bronze Merit Award by the Evansville Police Department.

“Probably one of the hardest part of the job is being trying to sound crazy silly be your dog’s hype man,” Opperman says.