A decorated former Louisiana cop has been jailed for 20 years for sexually abusing his K9 partner and also allowing at least one other person to do the same.

The previously highly-respected officer Terry Yetman, 42, was sentenced for sexually abusing his dog, now in care at an animal centre, and possessing a video of another man abusing the animal.

The former cop in Bossier City in the US state of Louisiana was sentenced to four years for each of the five counts of sexually abusing an animal after agreeing on a plea deal in August that saw dozens of further charges dropped.

District Judge Michael Craig sentenced the decorated former cop on Tuesday.

Reports said that the dog is now technically retired and it is unclear if it was on active duty or in retirement when the sex attacks happened.

Yetman turned himself over to detectives of the Louisiana State Police Special Victim’s Unit after a search warrant was issued for the electrical devices of a Bossier City officer back in 2018.

He was subsequently charged with sexually abusing his dog named Boss, as well as possessing images of another person performing the same act on the animal, reportedly a Belgian Shepherd.

At the sentencing, it was revealed that he was also caught with child pornography which resulted in a concurrent prison term of 20 years. The child pornography charge was added in 2019.

Boss was sent to an animal rescue centre in Texas and Yetman was dismissed from his position with the police. He has been in jail since his arrest.

Yetman will also have to register as a sex offender.

He had worked with the Bossier City Police Department since November 2014, and was honoured with the 2018 Trey Hutchinson Award for officers who support victims of domestic violence as well as their families.

The investigation helped the authorities to identify another retired officer, name not reported, for a charge of possessing child porn.