JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office honored a veteran K9 officer named Bane, who was put to rest a few months ago.
A special service was held Wednesday at the Jacksonville Pet Funeral Home and Pet Memorial Park.
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“He was working and he was still committed to his job. You wouldn’t know anything was happening, but you could see things were slowing him down,” SJSO Deputy Robert Neigebauer said.
A committed, loyal, helpful partner and overall best friend who shared the same birthday. That’s how Neigebauer remembered his one and only K9 partner, Bane, at the service.
“I catch myself occasionally saying ‘get in the car’ when I’m going to work or ‘take a break’ when I open the back door to go outside,” Neigebauer said.
The road hasn’t been easy as Neigebauer now rides alone in his unit.
“I wasn’t going to take another dog after he retired. He was going to retire in another year, but the big thing was going to work without your buddy. Quiet car. You don’t have a dog jumping up and down ready to go to work, and then obviously coming home to a silent house or some of the major impacts that you get doing this all the time, when he’s just with you all the time, and then gone, and those are the big emotional,” he said.
It’s been four and a half months since K9 Bane had to get out due to an unexpected illness.
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“Memories of work in the streets, finding drugs, finding bad guys, him destroying one of my couches. There’s a lot of memories, too many to count,” Neigebauer said.
Bane got full honors for his work as they rang a bell seven times, one for each year he served.
“Bane was the best dog you can ask for. He would turn it on when we were working on the streets. But when we’re home, you would think he was just a normal pet. He was very social. And I can go on and on about how good of a dog he was,” Neigebauer said.
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According to SJSO, the duo participated in approximately 400 deployments, assisting in over 130 arrests, and contributing to 185 narcotics seizures.
Now the deputy is thankful for the time spent with Bane and the loyal K9 partner that served with him for so long.
“It’s a feeling of gratefulness and seeing the impact that he’s made that it’s drawn everybody here to come out in his memory,” he said.
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