Retired Officers K-9 to Be Sold at Auction Despite His Offer to Pay City
An Ohio officer is retiring from the force and thought he would be able to take his K-9 partner with him. Unfortunately, the dog will go to the highest bidder.
A Marietta, Ohio police officer is fighting to keep his K-9 partner Ajax after he retires. Matt Hickey has been working side by side with Ajax for the past three years. Hickey said he and his family think of the dog as a member of their family.
Sadly, they might be losing their family member forver.
Hickey, who is 57 years-old, decided he was going to retire and wanted Ajax to retire with him. Ajax is 6 years old, but still has the potential to work for another 6 years on the force.
Hickey says he believed that he would have been able to have Ajax retire with him. He spoke with a city representative who said the dog was worth $3,500. Hickey offered to pay that amount to keep Ajax.
Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy.
On the day he retied, he spoke with his police chief and had the money to buy Ajax and take him home. Unfortunately, his boss told him he didn't have the authority to take the money and hand Ajax over.
According to the Marietta Law Director Paul Betram III,
“The dog is property of the city of Marietta. Because it is like personal property, it is treated like a treated like a shovel that's just the way it is.”
The city is now saying that they must sell Ajax to the highest bidder at an auction, which means Hickey may not be the winning bidder in the end. Hickey is worried that he may not be the highest bidder in the end, and he won't be able to afford Ajax.
The city did state that the only people allowed to bid on the K-9 is a police officer, either active or retired or a trainer for police K-9s.
Until the auction, Ajax is staying at Matt Hickey's house. Once the opening bids start, then Hickey will know whether or not Ajax gets to stay there.
According to WBNS-TV10, they spoke to other police departments about this situation and none could recall "a situation where a police dog was put out to bid when the officer retired."
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