Saugus mourns Beny the police dog

SAUGUS – The Saugus Police Department is mourning the death of one of its most popular, recognizable and surely its furriest members, retired K-9 Beny.”He had not only a giant head but a giant heart,” said K-9 Officer Tim Fawcett, Beny’s handler. “He knew when he had to be a police dog and when he didn’t ? besides being a police dog, he was a family dog.”K-9 Beny was purchased by the department in 2001 from a breeder in Central Europe (which Fawcett said might explain why there is only one “n” in his name) when Beny was 18 months old. After extensive training, Beny served with the department for 8? years, assisting officers with traffic stops and drug arrests, investigating robbery scenes for possible suspects, tracking missing persons and suspects, and many other tasks, officers said.Beny retired in 2012. He died Thursday of old age at 14? years old.And although the signs on the K-9 Unit cruiser warn people not to interfere with police dogs, officers said Beny was unique in his sociability.”He was very effective when it came to police work but was also a mild-mannered enough dog that we used him for public-relations events, bringing him into schools and to community demonstrations,” Saugus Police Chief Domenic DiMella said.Indeed, while not sniffing out illicit substances and scouting out crime scenes, Beny’s duties included presentations and demonstrations where countless hands inevitably reached out to pat him on the head. Fawcett said some police dogs don’t like to be touched, but Beny was a popular guest.”When I do shows for children in the schools or the elderly, I want people to be able to pat the dogs if they want to,” said Fawcett. “Besides being a great protector, he was a great animal. He was just a wonderful, wonderful dog, one of a kind.”But Beny especially enjoyed the pats from his family: throughout his career and retirement, Beny lived with Fawcett and his wife, Debbie, and their 9-year-old son – and Beny’s best buddy – Tyler.”Beny was one in a million and meant the world to us,” Debbie Fawcett said in an email accompanying photos of Beny at home. “Although he is gone, he will never be forgotten.”