DENVER — A dog in the Denver Sheriff’s Department K-9 unit who was slated to be put down later this week has been saved after concerns were raised by multiple people, including Denver7 Investigates.
Denver7 Investigates received a tip from an insider with concerns that a member of the sheriff’s department’s K-9 unit named Riggs was going to be euthanized. In an interview Wednesday, Sheriff Elias Diggins said he made a decision late Tuesday to make sure Riggs would not be put down.
“I think it takes a community to really bring issues to light. And we appreciate the fact that everyone involved had some concern,” Diggins said. “And we're glad that this is the path that's going forward.”
Riggs, a Belgian Malinois, was certified in November 2023 to serve in the department’s explosive and narcotics division. He is one of five dogs in the unit, according to the department’s website.
However, Diggins said that Riggs had displayed some behavior issues such as growling and snapping with his handler's family. This was going to cut his time in the K-9 unit short.
Diggins said that after learning about the issue, the department believed the best choice was euthanasia.
“We've since rethought that,” Diggins said. “When we got the call that your team was looking into this… I said, let's look at this differently. And I made the decision to move in a different direction. … We appreciate all of the folks that were concerned with the path that we were going down.”
The department’s K-9 handlers are working with partners in law enforcement to find rescues that work with law enforcement dogs.
“We love our dogs. We love them,” Diggins said. “We all consider every single person who works here, along with our K-9s, members of the greater law enforcement family. And so we don't take these decisions lightly at all. In fact, they weigh on us heavily.”
If anyone is interested in adopting Riggs, they can email Contact7@Denver7.com and the unit will pass along the information to the sheriff’s public information officer.
