Police K9 teams from across Utah will gather at the West Jordan Arena on September 13 at 9 a.m. for the Brad Taylor Memorial K9 Trial, a free public event featuring criminal apprehension, agility, and obedience competitions among working police dogs and their handlers. The trial doubles as a fundraiser for law enforcement canine programs that often struggle to cover the cost of training and equipping their dogs.
The event, announced by the Sandy City Police Department on Facebook, honors K9 Officer Bradley W. Taylor, a Sandy police K9 handler who died on September 3, 2023, following a brief battle with stage IV melanoma, according to Gephardt Daily. Taylor was 35 and also served as an active member of the Utah Army National Guard. After his death, his widow, Marisa Taylor, founded the Bradley W. Taylor Memorial Foundation to raise money for K9 equipment, handler training, and financial aid for canine units, as the Davis Journal reported at the time.
A Regional Competition Built From Grief
The inaugural memorial trials in September 2024 drew more than 40 police K9 teams from Utah, Idaho, and Nevada, making the event a multi-state draw in its first year, per the Davis Journal. That first competition raised more than $12,000 for regional canine programs, funds that went toward a winter training seminar and helped sponsor a new Police Service Dog for the Taylorsville Police Department. The 2026 edition, according to the event's official schedule posted at bwtk9memorial.com, spans three days of competition, including specialized tracking, patrol, narcotics detection, and explosives detection divisions. However, the public spectating portion at the arena will focus on the more visible criminal apprehension, agility, and obedience trials listed in the Sandy police announcement.
West Jordan Police Department claimed the Top Patrol Agency Award at the 2024 trials, with Sgt. Mike Jones and Police Service Dog Vranik earning multiple first-place finishes in obedience and agility, the Valley Journal reported. West Jordan is one of the few Utah departments that gives handlers two hours of on-duty training time each day, department leadership told the outlet, while many surrounding agencies require handlers to train on their own time — a funding gap that helps explain why the foundation's grants and training seminars matter to smaller agencies. The Lehi City Police Department is among the agencies that have used the trials to test handlers in high-pressure scenarios, earning honors in patrol and narcotics building searches during last year's competition, according to a post from the Lehi Police K9 Unit.
Why West Jordan Arena and Why It Matters Beyond the Ribbons
The West Jordan Arena at 8035 S. 2200 West is a city-owned venue that regularly hosts large community gatherings such as the Western Stampede Rodeo and demolition derbies, giving organizers the open floor space and grandstand seating needed for the trial's agility runs and apprehension demonstrations, per the City of West Jordan. Utah K9 training organization Friends for Unified Police K9 has noted that departments intentionally rotate training sites across commercial, residential, and municipal venues to prevent dogs from what trainers call pattern training on familiar terrain, ensuring the animals perform reliably in unfamiliar real-world environments.
Beyond the ribbons and trophies, the trial's real function is closing a budget gap that leaves some Utah police departments without the money to buy, train, or maintain a service dog at all. The foundation's fundraising has already helped place a trained dog with the Taylorsville Police Department and cover winter tactical training for regional teams, according to the Davis Journal's reporting on the 2024 event. It remains unclear how many agencies will field teams at this year's trials or whether the foundation plans to announce new grants or dog placements, details that were not specified in materials reviewed ahead of the event.
The Brad Taylor Memorial K9 Trial is free and open to the public on September 13, starting at 9 a.m. at the West Jordan Arena. Organizers can be reached at 801-664-4287, and additional details are available at bwtk9memorial.com.
