Franklin K-9 Fury, who died in crash, to be honored today
Franklin Police K-9 Fury will be honored today in Washington, D.C. along with 25 other fallen K-9s from 2023 at the National Police K-9 Memorial Service, which is part of National Police Week.
Fury died Nov. 11 in a vehicle crash while on duty with his handler and another officer. Both officers survived the crash.
The memorial service begins at 1 p.m. at the National Law Enforcement
Officers Memorial. The event is open to the public and will be streamed on the National Police Dog Foundation’s website, www.nationalpolicedogfoundation.org/.
Franklin police Chief Adam Colon, Capt. Brian Pacifico, and Officer Alex Butler are traveling to Washington for the ceremony. Butler was Fury’s handler.
Marshal George Basore, who died in the line of duty in October 1906, is the Franklin Division of Police member whose name is inscribed on the National Law Enforcement
Officers Memorial.
More than 100 police officers from southwestern Ohio and beyond, many with their K-9 partners, filled the parking lot outside the New Vine Community Church on Nov. 16 to pay final respects to Franklin Police K-9 officer Fury.
Pacifico said Fury was born Jan. 2, 2020 in the Czech Republic and was purchased by Southern Ohio Police K-9 in April 2021 to begin his training. Butler selected Fury to be his partner in May 2021 and trained with the K-9 that summer.
Fury was patrol-certified, which includes apprehension, building search, article search and area search. The K-9 was also a certified narcotics detection dog.
Fury recorded 109 vehicle searches with one resulting in the seizure of 10 kilos of cocaine. The K-9 performed 22 tracks, 27 warrant assists, seven building searches, 24 apprehensions without having to bite a suspect, 16 school sniffs, 13 article searches, one area search and numerous demonstrations throughout Warren County, according to Pacifico.
The National Police Dog
Foundation established the K-9 Memorial Fund in 2018 to assist law enforcement agencies in purchasing and training replacement K-9s for those who have fallen in the line of duty.
Butler and his new K9 partner Asland recently completed eight weeks of training and have been state certified through the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy. They started working the streets of Franklin on May 7.