KENT Police are mourning the death of seven-year-old police dog Oscar.

Only in June this year, Oscar and his handler PC Tim Harris were awarded the Chief Constable’s Certificate of Merit in recognition of their outstanding performance, professionalism, tenacity and dedication to duty.

Together they were a winning team. Between April, 2003 and March 2004, PC Harris and Oscar were responsible for 94 arrests in Medway - a level of performance that was maintained throughout PC Harris’s seven-year service with the dog unit.

In his career Oscar received four commendations in total, two for detaining suspects who were armed.

Oscar retired in 2004 but continued to live with his handler, PC Harris who is now neighbourhood police officer for Wainscot, Hoo and the Isle of Grain.

PC Harris informed his colleagues at Kent Police on 7 December that, after a very short illness, Oscar had died.

Oscar had not been himself and was taken to the vets last week. Unfortunately a tumour was found under his tongue. This was removed and he seemed to recover for a couple of days.

However, on Monday December 5 Oscar collapsed and was taken to the Royal Vetinary College. The diagnosis was that he had a brain tumour and would not recover. PC Harris made the very difficult decision to have Oscar put to sleep.

Speaking on behalf of his family, PC Harris said: “As you can appreciate this has been a bitter blow to us all. Oscar was very special. He excelled as a police dog, a pet and was a very good mate”.