Franklin police mourn loss of canine officer

Franklin Police officers are mourning the death of Pepper, a 7 year old police dog, who died Sunday morning.

Her handler, Officer Jesse Brown, found Pepper unresponsive and not breathing. The dog was taken to Purdue University and results of an autopsy are pending.

Pepper, a Belgian Malinois originally from the Netherlands, began working with the Franklin police in November 2015.

She was a dual-purpose canine officer and was responsible for narcotics detection, area searches and tracking events during her career with the department. Brown and Officer Jeffrey Dawe were her handlers during her time with the department. They said Pepper loved meeting members of the community, playing with tennis balls and showing off her detection skills.

Photo courtesy of Franklin Police Department.