Cedar Rapids police K-9 officer Jenks dies unexpectedly

CEDAR RAPIDS - A Cedar Rapids Police Department K-9 officer died earlier this week.

On Tuesday, the department announced on its Facebook page that K-9 officer Jenks, who had been partnered with Sgt. Chris Bieber, died Monday after a 'quick and unexpected medical condition.”

Jenks was a 7-year-old Dutch Shepherd trained in drug recognition and patrol. He had been in service since January 2010.

Bieber and Jenks were one of the first K-9 teams to be trained within the police department, according to the Facebook post.

The police department employs seven K-9 teams. Six are trained in narcotics detection and the seventh is trained to detect explosives. The teams are assigned to patrol and are available seven days a week. A K-9 team is assigned to each shift.