The Mount Vernon-Lisbon Police Department held a memorial service for Monster Saturday, March 8.
The former church building was standing room only in the garage for the department, as members of the public and members of local fire, police, sheriff and Iowa State Patrol gathered to pay respect to the beloved K-9 unit.
Pastor Erika Uthe with Seeds of Faith Lutheran Church delivered opening remarks.
“They say dogs aren’t creatures we will know our whole lives, but they make our lives whole,” Uthe said. “We’re gathered here today to help fill the hole that Monster has made in the lives of this community.”
Chief Doug Shannon again thanked the community for the support they’ve had with Monster’s passing, especially towards officer Steve Moel and his family. Shannon said one of the first tasks that he was asked to investigate when being named chief of the police department was to look into the formation of a K-9 program for the department.
“A lot of thought and research went into this before we even began the program,” Shannon said.
In 2018, after significant private donations and having an officer willing to partner with a K-9 unit, the department started looking for a K-9 officer and discovered Monster.
“The more time you spent around him as an officer, the more he grew on everyone he met,” Shannon said.
And Monster proved his worth to the department in a number of different cases. One of his first assignments was helping to locate a missing 2-year-old who had wandered into a farm field.
He also helped locating a perpetrator of an armed robbery.
Crystal Moel Martindell, Moel’s sister, spoke on behalf of the family and Monster’s impact there. The dog was Steve’s partner since September 2018.
“While he loved playing fetch when he wasn’t working, with whoever would, whenever Steve would get dressed in his uniform, he was also excited because that meant it was time to get to work,” Martindell said.
Each of the children in the Moel family had their own interactions and lessons learned from Moel, like what happened when they encountered laser tag game in process or could be territorial in nature.
“He had a larger than life personality, and a giant nose he would use to get people’s attention, especially when they were working on their reports,” Martindell said.