The Suffern Police Department is mourning the death of a retired K-9, who served from 2011 to 2021.

Patriot worked with handler Officer Lou Venturini. His skills included search and tracking, evidence recovery, apprehension and narcotics detection.

Police say Patriot helped find critical evidence, including drugs, during his decade on the force.

Venturini, who is also retired, started Suffern's K-9 program and worked with two police dogs before Patriot.