Died – 12\/28\/17
\nHandler – Lt. Sam Finnegan<\/p>\n
Peru police mourn passing of retired K9
\nDiesel served with Lt. Sam Finnegan for 8 years fighting crime<\/p>\n
The Peru Police Department is mourning the loss of its longest-serving K9 officer, who passed away at around 4 p.m. Thursday. Diesel served with Lt. Sam Finnegan from 2006 to 2014, where he was sent out on over 1,200 deployments and assisted in hundreds of arrests and apprehensions. Diesel also won several awards in the K9 Olympics, including a first in tracking. Since his retirement in 2014, Diesel had lived with Finnegan and his family.Peru Police Chief Mike Meeks said Friday Finnegan had recently noticed Diesel wasn\u2019t feeling well and knew it was only a matter of time before he passed. But that didn\u2019t take the sting out of losing his long-time partner. \u201cLosing a family pet is tough enough,\u201d Meeks said. \u201cBut losing your partner who you worked and lived with every day for 11 years, that\u2019s pretty rough.\u201d Meeks said the news of Diesel\u2019s death also hit the rest of the department hard. \u201cDiesel had a great personality,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was approachable. He was one that we never, ever had an issue with. He always let kids pet him. He had a loving personality about him. He was almost like our family pet, but you knew he was a hard working dog.\u201dDiesel was the third K9 ever to serve on the force, and was instrumental not only in numerous drug arrests, but also serving as a kind of friendly liaison between the department and the community, Meeks said. \u201cDogs are so good at public relations and help law enforcement build that bond between police and the community, especially with youth\u201d he said. \u201cKids love the K9s.\u201d Meeks said Diesel also made all the officers feel safer when responding to dangerous situations. \u201cMost people think K9s just go out and find drugs, but it\u2019s so much more than that,\u201d he said. \u201cThey keep us safe and secure as the protector who can sometimes save our lives.\u201d Diesel will be cremated, and his ashes will be kept in an urn that will serve as a reminder of his dedicated service as a police K9, Meeks said. \u201cHe was our own little hero in our department,\u201d he said. \u201cDiesel was missed when he retired, and he will be well missed now that he’s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Died – 12\/28\/17 Handler – Lt. Sam Finnegan Peru police mourn passing of retired K9 Diesel served with Lt. Sam Finnegan for 8 years fighting crime The Peru Police Department is mourning the loss of its longest-serving K9 officer, who passed away at around 4 p.m. Thursday. Diesel served with Lt. Sam Finnegan from 2006 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-4455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-k9memorial","tag-in"],"yoast_head":"\n