ALTON, Ill. – The Alton community is coming together to grieve the loss of K-9 Officer Odin. Chief Ford said Odin sacrificed his life to save his fellow officers. Around town, the community put up signs on school fence lines and business marquees to honor him.
Town Club Bar & Grill placed its marquee along E. Broadway.
“(My son) said, ‘Yeah, I’d really like to put that up on the marquee down there. So I said, yeah OK, that’s fine,’ so I went ahead and did it this morning,” said Kribs.
Some residents say the community is grieving together.
“This is a horrible loss, it is just like losing one of the officers because training is here every day, going out, being out and about in the community,” Peggy Snyder said.
Snyder is with Mustache March 4PD, a non-profit that partners with police departments to help purchase equipment they may need, including dog vests, training, and other necessities for K–9 programs.
“This community will support the police. There will be a K-9 that returns or more K-9s that return to this police department,” Snyder explained.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville also posted about the loss of Odin, noting they were able to help the department raise funds back in January through the school’s hockey team.
