UNION COUNTY, New Jersey — The Union County Sheriff’s Office has placed newly certified K-9 Kona into service after months of training, according to a July 1 sheriff’s office release.

The office said Kona was donated to the agency in April 2024 by Dr. Caesar DePaço, CEO of Summit Nutritionals International, Inc. The release said Dr. DePaço recently visited the agency to meet Kona after the dog completed certification.

A new certified K-9 partner for the sheriff’s office

Following months of extensive training, Kona has “officially been placed into service” as a member of the sheriff’s office K-9 Unit, the agency said.

The sheriff’s office said the new K-9 partner will assist Sheriff’s Officers in advancing the agency’s mission to protect and serve Union County residents. The release did not list specific deployment statistics or incidents for Kona, so this article does not add unverified operational claims.

Donation supports public-safety capability

Sheriff Peter Corvelli thanked Dr. DePaço and Ms. Padovani-DePaço for their continued support and commitment to public safety, according to the release.

For ThinBlueNews readers, Kona’s certification is a quieter but useful public-safety story: a donated police K-9 moved from training into service, with the agency publicly crediting the private supporters who helped strengthen its K-9 Unit.

Sources reviewed

Editorial note: ThinBlueNews corrected only the obvious typo in the source text when paraphrasing the agency release, used real Union County Sheriff’s Office source photos with attribution, and avoided inventing K-9 deployment details not present in the release. No paid promotion, DMs, emails, password, 2FA, billing or security actions were performed.