USU Police Department retires K9, welcomes new four-legged officer

Published on September 28, 2026

The Utah State University Police Department welcomed its newest K9 officer, a 2-year-old Belgian malinois, in August. The police dog, Demona, is currently going through weekly training to gain her certification in the state of Utah for explosive detection. 

Demona, known as “Mona” to USUPD, mostly works alongside Officer Micah Talbot, her handler, and Lt. Scott Murray. Talbot and Murray described the selection process as choosing Mona out of five different dogs through a private donor. Throughout the selection process, Talbot and Murray worked alongside Chief of Police Erik Christensen to consider cost, logistics and how the K9 would work with different handlers. 

Mona’s arrival follows shortly after the retirement of Zoomer, one of USUPD’s oldest K9 officers. Zoomer, an 8-year-old English Labrador retriever, worked for USUPD for six years, officially retiring in July. Zoomer will spend retirement as a family dog with his handler, Murray. 

“I will miss bringing him to work each day and at first, he too missed working. Now he just loves retired life and relaxing at home,” Murray said.

Read More..