K9 Kyro, a Bristol County K9 that had been deployed over 300 times, passes away suddenly

Officials have announced that Bristol County Police K-9 Kyro passed away on Monday.

According to James Donovan, Chief of Police for Raynham, Kyro passed away due to sudden illness. An honor service was held on Tuesday, Dec. 27, at Angel View Cemetery in Middleborough, which was attended by members of the Raynham Police Department, other area K-9 teams and law enforcement officers from the region. To view a video of the sendoff from the department, click here.

Kyro was a 10-year-old German Shepherd from the Czech Republic. He began his career at the Raynham Police Department in 2013 with handler Ken Collins (Ret.) and went on to work alongside handler Sgt. Frank Pacheco upon Collins’ retirement.

Since 2013, Kyro has been deployed over 300 times, with many of those deployments to assist surrounding agencies. Deployments have included searching for missing persons, searching for suspects and locating evidence. Kyro has also supported the South Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council SWAT and Search and Rescue teams for several years.

Kyro’s career highlights include, but are not limited to: locating a disoriented and missing man who was missing for 12 hours in the woods behind the Raynham IcePlex and locating a firearm thrown from a vehicle during a pursuit.

Kyro recently retired from the Raynham Police Department this past fall and lived happily in retirement with Sgt. Pacheco and his family.

“On behalf of the men and women of the Raynham Police Department, we would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the Pacheco family upon the sudden loss of beloved K-9 Kyro,” Chief Donovan said. “Kyro served as a fearless and loveable member of not just our police department but the Pacheco family as well. Kyro’s impact on our department, the Pacheco family and surrounding communities will not be forgotten.”