City PD mourns retired police dog Helo

YOUNGSTOWN — The city police department is mourning the loss of police dog Helo.

The dog, who was paired with handler Josh Kelly for seven years, passed away Nov. 3.

Helo was 12 years old and he was retired from police service at the end of September when Kelly began work with his new dog, Gustav.

Helo was the last of a class of dogs that began service in 2007 that was still working for the department.

One of those dogs has since also passed, police dog Ninja at the beginning of 2014, and two other dogs are no longer active police dogs because their handlers are no longer working with police dogs.