Services Set For Aberdeen Det. Mark Franklin

The viewing for Aberdeen police Det. Mark Franklin will be held Sunday and Monday.

Franklin, a 13-year veteran of the department, died Thursday after battling cancer since early in 2012. He served as Aberdeen's crime scene technician. Franklin began his career serving two years with the Martland Transportation Authority police.

He is survived by his wife and four children.

A viewing will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday, and from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. on Monday at McComas Funeral Home at 1317 Cokesbury Road in Abingdon.

Services will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Mountain Christian Church at 1824 Mountain Road in Joppa, follwed by internment at Mountain Christian.

Franklin had been battling non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Harford County Municipal Fraternal Order of Police President Jason Neidig wrote in an email to Patch: "I am deeply sad hearing about the loss of Officer & Brother Mark Franklin.  He was a top notch crime scene technician.  He was admired by crime scene techs all over the state.  This has been a terrible month for law enforcement however nothing will break our thin blue line, nothing.  We are a family like no other."

His death is the fourth in the past month for Harford County, and the second for Aberdeen police.

Officer Charles Armetta died Sept. 8 in an off duty accident where he fell from an elevated portion of Interstate 95 in Baltimore.

Two days prior, Harford County Sheriff's Office Cpl. Charles Licato died near the end of of his shift in a single-car accident in Darlington.

Sgt. Ian Loughran died at his home in northern Harford County in the early morning of Sept. 13 after suffering heart attack symptoms during Licato's funeral on Sept. 12.

Two retired officials recently died, as well.

Ronald Petty, a former member of both the Maryland State Police and Harford County Sheriff's Office, died Sept. 9 after battling an illness.

Former Harford County Sheriff and Maryland State Trooper Theodore S. Moyer died Sept. 17.