Southington police raising funds for police dog, officer memorial

Published on February 19, 2019

A local police officer is raising funds for a new memorial that will honor police dogs and officers.

Officer Mel Emond, who has been partnered with K9 Kira for two years, began working on the memorial project last year. Emond said the department has had three police dogs die since the unit was revived in 2001. The names of those dogs, and all future police dogs, will be added to the monument planned for in front of the police station on Lazy Lane.

There will also be a statue of a police officer to honor all past, present and future officers, and an eternal flame in the middle. There is currently a memorial for Timothy Foley, an officer that was killed in the line of duty in 1938, and the new features will be added around that stone.

The total cost for the memorial is about $40,000. Emond said he needs about $18,000 to reach that goal. Read More