A sheriff’s dog died in a hot car. A K-9 officer got suspended, and rules got changed.

The Durham County Sheriff’s Office suspended an officer and changed its policies after a police dog died in a hot patrol car last summer.

On July 11, Deputy Peter Lilje was taking part in a training exercise with his K-9, Max, a 9-year-old Belgian Malinois who had been with the Sheriff’s Office for seven years, according to information from Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman AnnMarie Breen. The information was provided after The News & Observer submitted recent questions about the dog’s death.

The low that day way 67 degrees and the high was 96, according to accuweather.com.

Max was in Lilje’s patrol car, a 2014 marked Dodge Charger, during part of the training, Breen said.

The patrol car had safety measures that activate when the vehicle’s temperature rises above a certain level. The measures include a fan coming on to push hot air out of the car, the windows rolling down and the horn honking.

The safety measure “didn’t activate the way it should,” Breen said.

Breen said she didn’t have any more information on why the safety measure didn’t activate because the internal investigation into the incident is part of Lilje’s personnel record that is not a public record. Breen said she also couldn’t answer how long Max was in the car.

The day after Max’s death, Maj. D. Baker sent out a memorandum to all K-9 handlers. The memo states that “until the reliability and operational performance of the K-9 vehicle safety equipment can be assessed,” dogs in unattended vehicles need to be checked every 20 minutes and K-9 handlers working at the jail or going to court should place dog in kennels in a secure section of the courthouse.

Breen said she doesn’t think the Sheriff’s Office found any issues with the safety equipment, but the new procedures remain in place.

New SUVs for K-9s were budgeted by previous Sheriff Mike Andrews before Max died and have since been ordered, Breen said, but haven’t arrived yet. Sheriff Clarence Birkhead was sworn in in December after he defeated Andrews in the May Democratic primary.

After an internal investigation, Lilje was suspended for three days without pay Oct. 2 and removed from the Sheriff’s Office Canine Unit, Breen said.

Lilje, who is currently in the patrol division, has worked for the Sheriff’s Office since February 2008.

Lilje was Max’s only handler. There was no history of abuse and Lilje had not previously been suspended, Breen said. Max cost the Sheriff’s Office $7,000.

In July, the Sheriff’s Office had five K-9s, including Max. Two have since retired and a new dog was brought on board. Now the Sheriff’s Office has three.

Max’s death demonstrates that heat-alert systems aren’t foolproof, wrote Sarah Preston, associate director for the animal rights organization the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, in a statement.

PETA receives reports every year about K-9s who died in similar ways, she said, and in addition to having up-to-date alert systems, agencies should also implement fail-safe policies such as the ones the Sheriff’s Office implemented,

“K-9s are officers who are called upon to risk their very lives, and their involuntary service should be treated with the highest regard,” Preston said.

This story was originally published March 27, 2019 at 7:06 PM.