End of watch announced for retired Cranston K-9 officer
CRANSTON, R.I. (WLNE) — The Cranston Police Department announced the illness and imminent passing of a retired department K-9 officer.
Blesk, a Czech Shepherd, was a Cranston K-9 officer for seven years, beginning his time with the department in December of 2015, working with K-9 Officer O’Donnell.
Receiving badge number 528, Blesk was a dual-purpose police K-9 certified in Narcotics and Patrol.
He received a diagnosis of degenerative myelopathy in September of 2017, given only 8-10 months to live.
Despite this, Blesk continued on in the department for a total of seven years, retiring in March of 2022.
Blesk was involved in several narcotics seizures and missing person recoveries during his career.
Blesk’s end of watch will be on August 6, 2024, and a motorcade route will be arranged in his honor, starting in West Warwick and arriving at Cranston police headquarters.
Blesk will receive his final call at 1:45 p.m. before his transportation to Final Gift Pet Memorial Center in Cranston.
