The Brief
- Heatstroke is the most common cause of death for law enforcement K-9s, Sergeant Mike Kilian with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office’s K-9 Unit, said.
- The Hot-N-Pop Pro technology sets off alarms, texts and calls deputies when the car gets above 85 degrees.
- The deputies keep their cars running and the AC on when the K-9s are inside, but they say the technology adds an extra layer of protection.
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. – Heatstroke is the most common cause of death for law enforcement K-9s, Sergeant Mike Kilian with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office’s K-9 Unit, said.
It’s part of the reason the agency has technology installed in every K-9 cruiser that sounds an alarm if it gets too hot. It has already saved one K-9, Sergeant Kilian’s K-9, Eddie.
“I was driving an older truck,” Sergeant Kilian said. “It had a lot of mileage on it and one of our handlers got out on a track for a stolen vehicle. “I left Eddie in the truck, went out with the handler tracking, and I could see, probably about five minutes into the track, a large plume of smoke coming from the area where my truck was parked,” he said.…