Police in Twinsburg, Ohio have taken a proactive approach when it comes to animal care.
After a police dog from another Ohio community suffered a heat-related death last year while being left in a police cruiser, the department has upgraded its own vehicle heat-sensor devices to make sure that the tragedy won’t happen again.
The device, called Hot-N-Pop Pro and manufactured by Ace K9, includes a variety of components which will monitor the interior temperature of the vehicle and activate hard-to-miss warning devices.
Among Hot-N-Pop Pro’s many features are:
* An ‘Auto On/Manual Off’ feature in which the device automatically activates when the vehicle ignition is turned on and can only be turned off manually. It stays on when you exit the vehicle and continues to monitor the interior environment.
* An ‘S.O.S Horn Honk’ feature which activates when your K-9’s environment becomes dangerous, setting off a unique horn sound in the process. The device automatically turns on the sirens and lights, as well.
* A ‘No K-9 Left Behind’ feature which continues to monitor the interior environment until the dog is actually removed from the vehicle.
* A ‘Dual Window Drop Module’ in which your cruiser’s windows will automatically open – and the air conditioning turned on – when the car becomes too hot.
The old system used by Twinsburg police only activated the horn when the car became dangerously hot. And the department decided to take an additional step in its animal care by installing a fan in an inside window specifically for its K-9 officer.
According to an article on www.wksu.org, there are about 20,000 active police dogs in the U.S. There have been about 30 heat-related deaths since 2012, the article notes.
Twinsburg police have never suffered the loss of a K-9 officer to heat-related causes. With the Hot-N-Pop Pro, they intend to keep it that way.