SERVICE DOG
"Loyal partner A hero in childrens eyes"
Members of Sheriff's Office remember canine colleague Liberty, a bloodhound, sniffed out children, the elderly and the wanted.
Liberty was only about two months into her new job as a Charlotte County Sheriff's Office K-9 when she went to the Triangle Motel south of Punta Gorda on June 2, 2004, to find a woman. Using only the scent from a hair tie found outside a half-opened window, she led law enforcement half a mile into the woods to, It took Liberty 15 to 20 minutes to find her.
Deputy 1st Class Emmett Merritt remembered the bloodhound's service as a tracking dog Friday when Liberty's memorial service was held at Royal Palm Memorial Gardens Pet Cemetery.
He couldn't even begin to estimate the number of people they found, he said, and they looked for all kinds -- from those wanted by the law, like Burns, to confused elderly people and lost children. Liberty tracked children with particular intensity. "Our main goal was keeping children safe," Merritt said. "When we went to find somebody, she wouldn't quit."
Liberty was donated to the CCSO by 832 K-9's Deputy Dogs of Homosassa, FL, which raises bloodhounds for police work.
She got her name from a class of Liberty Elementary School students who participated in a naming contest in 2003.
Liberty was recognized for her work a number of times -- in 2004, she and Merritt won a first-place award as the Florida Missing Children's Trailing Team of the Year. The pair were runners-up in 2005, and they received the first-place award again in 2006. By the time Liberty attended the award ceremony in Tallahassee on Sept. 10, she was ill with an autoimmune disease.
On Tuesday, she and Merritt were together when she died. Merritt told officers, who hugged him and expressed their condolences, how she had passed. He had called to her, but she didn't get up from where she lay. "She just kind of looked at me, then put her head back down," he said. Police dogs live with their handlers. Liberty's memorial service was attended by about 50 members of the CCSO
"Loyal partner A hero in childrens eyes"
Members of Sheriff's Office remember canine colleague Liberty, a bloodhound, sniffed out children, the elderly and the wanted.
Liberty was only about two months into her new job as a Charlotte County Sheriff's Office K-9 when she went to the Triangle Motel south of Punta Gorda on June 2, 2004, to find a woman. Using only the scent from a hair tie found outside a half-opened window, she led law enforcement half a mile into the woods to, It took Liberty 15 to 20 minutes to find her.
Deputy 1st Class Emmett Merritt remembered the bloodhound's service as a tracking dog Friday when Liberty's memorial service was held at Royal Palm Memorial Gardens Pet Cemetery.
He couldn't even begin to estimate the number of people they found, he said, and they looked for all kinds -- from those wanted by the law, like Burns, to confused elderly people and lost children. Liberty tracked children with particular intensity. "Our main goal was keeping children safe," Merritt said. "When we went to find somebody, she wouldn't quit."
Liberty was donated to the CCSO by 832 K-9's Deputy Dogs of Homosassa, FL, which raises bloodhounds for police work.
She got her name from a class of Liberty Elementary School students who participated in a naming contest in 2003.
Liberty was recognized for her work a number of times -- in 2004, she and Merritt won a first-place award as the Florida Missing Children's Trailing Team of the Year. The pair were runners-up in 2005, and they received the first-place award again in 2006. By the time Liberty attended the award ceremony in Tallahassee on Sept. 10, she was ill with an autoimmune disease.
On Tuesday, she and Merritt were together when she died. Merritt told officers, who hugged him and expressed their condolences, how she had passed. He had called to her, but she didn't get up from where she lay. "She just kind of looked at me, then put her head back down," he said. Police dogs live with their handlers. Liberty's memorial service was attended by about 50 members of the CCSO
SERVICE DOG
"Loyal partner A hero in childrens eyes"
Members of Sheriff's Office remember canine colleague Liberty, a bloodhound, sniffed out children, the elderly and the wanted.
Liberty was only about two months into her new job as a Charlotte County Sheriff's Office K-9 when she went to the Triangle Motel south of Punta Gorda on June 2, 2004, to find a woman. Using only the scent from a hair tie found outside a half-opened window, she led law enforcement half a mile into the woods to, It took Liberty 15 to 20 minutes to find her.
Deputy 1st Class Emmett Merritt remembered the bloodhound's service as a tracking dog Friday when Liberty's memorial service was held at Royal Palm Memorial Gardens Pet Cemetery.
He couldn't even begin to estimate the number of people they found, he said, and they looked for all kinds -- from those wanted by the law, like Burns, to confused elderly people and lost children. Liberty tracked children with particular intensity. "Our main goal was keeping children safe," Merritt said. "When we went to find somebody, she wouldn't quit."
Liberty was donated to the CCSO by 832 K-9's Deputy Dogs of Homosassa, FL, which raises bloodhounds for police work.
She got her name from a class of Liberty Elementary School students who participated in a naming contest in 2003.
Liberty was recognized for her work a number of times -- in 2004, she and Merritt won a first-place award as the Florida Missing Children's Trailing Team of the Year. The pair were runners-up in 2005, and they received the first-place award again in 2006. By the time Liberty attended the award ceremony in Tallahassee on Sept. 10, she was ill with an autoimmune disease.
On Tuesday, she and Merritt were together when she died. Merritt told officers, who hugged him and expressed their condolences, how she had passed. He had called to her, but she didn't get up from where she lay. "She just kind of looked at me, then put her head back down," he said. Police dogs live with their handlers. Liberty's memorial service was attended by about 50 members of the CCSO
"Loyal partner A hero in childrens eyes"
Members of Sheriff's Office remember canine colleague Liberty, a bloodhound, sniffed out children, the elderly and the wanted.
Liberty was only about two months into her new job as a Charlotte County Sheriff's Office K-9 when she went to the Triangle Motel south of Punta Gorda on June 2, 2004, to find a woman. Using only the scent from a hair tie found outside a half-opened window, she led law enforcement half a mile into the woods to, It took Liberty 15 to 20 minutes to find her.
Deputy 1st Class Emmett Merritt remembered the bloodhound's service as a tracking dog Friday when Liberty's memorial service was held at Royal Palm Memorial Gardens Pet Cemetery.
He couldn't even begin to estimate the number of people they found, he said, and they looked for all kinds -- from those wanted by the law, like Burns, to confused elderly people and lost children. Liberty tracked children with particular intensity. "Our main goal was keeping children safe," Merritt said. "When we went to find somebody, she wouldn't quit."
Liberty was donated to the CCSO by 832 K-9's Deputy Dogs of Homosassa, FL, which raises bloodhounds for police work.
She got her name from a class of Liberty Elementary School students who participated in a naming contest in 2003.
Liberty was recognized for her work a number of times -- in 2004, she and Merritt won a first-place award as the Florida Missing Children's Trailing Team of the Year. The pair were runners-up in 2005, and they received the first-place award again in 2006. By the time Liberty attended the award ceremony in Tallahassee on Sept. 10, she was ill with an autoimmune disease.
On Tuesday, she and Merritt were together when she died. Merritt told officers, who hugged him and expressed their condolences, how she had passed. He had called to her, but she didn't get up from where she lay. "She just kind of looked at me, then put her head back down," he said. Police dogs live with their handlers. Liberty's memorial service was attended by about 50 members of the CCSO
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