Remembering K-9 Ben

K-9 Ben, age 9, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on September 7, 2021, after a short battle with cancer. Ben was born in North Dakota on Feb. 23, 2012.

He joined the University of North Dakota Police Department in 2014 as the department’s first K-9 unit after receiving extensive training and certification at Northern Iowa Canine Training Academy. During his career, he assisted with thousands of vehicle and room searches and remained well-respected in the law enforcement community where he frequently assisted the Grand Forks Police Department, Grand Forks Sheriff’s Office, and East Grand Forks Police Department.

Ben and Corporal Jose Solis were partners up until his retirement in February 2021. Upon his retirement, he remained in the care of the Solis family.

Ben brought smiles to the faces of students, staff, faculty, and the community of Grand forks. He will be dearly missed, and his pawprints will be in on hearts forever.

His presence we’ll miss, his memories we’ll treasure: loving him always, forgetting him never.