Boy Scouts create memorial to honor St. Lucie County K-9s

Thanks to three Boy Scouts on the Treasure Coast, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office will now have a place to honor their fallen K-9s.

Every detail of the new memorial is symbolic, including the K-9 footprints alongside those of the handler that fade away once they reach the statue.

It's especially meaningful to Sgt. Shawn Masters, a K-9 handler with the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office.

Sgt. Shawn Masters, a K-9 handler with the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, explains the... — Sgt. Shawn Masters, a K-9 handler with the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, explains the importance of K-9s to law enforcement agencies and why they deserve a memorial of this magnitude.

"It's important because we owe these dogs a debt of gratitude and recognition for all the service they provide, all the work they do," Masters said. "They go out every night, without fail, to protect their handlers, protect other deputies that are working to take evil off the streets."

The names of the former K-9s are engraved on the pedestal. The dogs that died in the line of duty have a special star.

Jayce Masters explains his role in getting the K-9 memorial built.

Each of the three St. Lucie County boys who helped make the memorial a reality will receive Eagle Scout status because of the project.

"My role was the statue, to fundraise over $40,000 for the statue," Jayce Masters, an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America Troop 422, said.

Derek Boyer was among the Boy Scouts who helped achieve completion of the memorial.

"Doing something like this obviously takes a lot of discipline. It takes a lot of hard work," Derek Boyer, an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America Troop 422, said. "It was a lot, talking to a whole bunch of different companies."

"Getting all that concrete built-in and also building the pedestal under it ... it was a painstaking process," Ashton Teague, an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America Troop 422, said.