Died 6\/21\/18
\nHandler – Sgt. Lee Sumners<\/p>\n
Hope Mills police dog Boo passes away <\/p>\n
The town of Hope Mills recently lost a trailblazing member of the police force who was loved by both her fellow police officers and members of the community she interacted with. Boo, the town\u2019s first full-time police dog, passed away at the age of 18. She became the town\u2019s first police dog in 2005 and served 10 years before going into semi-retirement when her health prevented her from doing all the things a police dog is asked to do. She continued to serve in a mostly ceremonial role, making public appearances for tours of the police department and other community events, until she passed away. Hope Mills Police Chief Joel Acciardo said Boo was a special dog with a great disposition. \u201cYou could bring Boo in for a kindergarten class tour and she would let the children run all over her, pet her, jump on her back, and she would just lay there and love it,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cYou could put her in a field situation where she was doing a track and she would be the most fierce, protective animal you ever saw in your life.\u2019\u2019 Boo worked most closely with her handler, Hope Mills Police Sgt. Lee Sumners. Acciardo said Sumners was unable to be interviewed about his work with Boo because he was still trying to deal with her passing. \u201cBoo was a trailblazer,\u2019\u2019 Acciardo said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re going into new territory, everything is a milestone. That made her very special. There is a bond between that handler and the animal. They become a team.\u2019\u2019 Acciardo said Sumners was responsible for Boo\u2019s medical care, hygiene and training, everything associated with her needs and well-being. When she wasn\u2019t living with Sumner, she stayed in a police department truck, but it\u2019s air conditioned and always running, Acciardo said. \u201cThey are never in a non-climate controlled environment when they\u2019re not actually working,\u2019\u2019 he said. When the police department\u2019s new public safety facility is completed, it will include a kennel that will be the workplace home for all future Hope Mills Police Department dogs.Boo was replaced in 2014 when the department added a new dog, Ringo, to the team. Like Boo, Ringo comes from a kennel in the Netherlands that specializes in breeding police service dogs, according to Hope Mills Deputy Chief Dave Servie. Ringo already made a name for himself with Hope Mills Police in 2016 when he helped officers locate the weapon used to murder Andrew Jacob Derenzy. Boo and Ringo are both what are known in law enforcement circles as a patrol certified dog. Servie said they are typically called on to track, detect narcotics or specific articles like a gun or wallet, or protect their handler. Both Boo and Ringo reported for work daily with the handler and were used for whatever need arose. While Ringo has adapted well to his new role with Hope Mills Police, Acciardo said there\u2019s no question Boo will be missed by everyone. \u201cBoo just absolutely loved people,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cYou couldn\u2019t ask for a better ambassador, when you\u2019re having a class of fourth graders come through, to represent the department\u2019s canine team.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Died 6\/21\/18 Handler – Sgt. Lee Sumners Hope Mills police dog Boo passes away The town of Hope Mills recently lost a trailblazing member of the police force who was loved by both her fellow police officers and members of the community she interacted with. Boo, the town\u2019s first full-time police dog, passed away at …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-5355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-k9memorial","tag-nc"],"yoast_head":"\n