Officer Matthew Hickey, a 30-year veteran of the Marietta police department in Ohio, retired last week. Hickey was the only trained K-9 person on the force and his dog, Ajax would be retiring when hickey retired. Officer Hickey asked if Ajax could come and live out his retirement years with his old partner and the Marietta brass said that protocol was that the K-9, being property, must be auctioned off. Ajax is valued at around $3,000, which is where the auctioning statute kicks in. Hickey went into his savings and produced the money. “No go,” said the Marietta Police Department:
I had the money for the dog and was ready to hand it to the the chief of police, and the chief of police said he couldn’t take it,” Hickey said.
The city says it is just following state law. Ohio state code 9.62 states that officers are allowed to purchase their K-9 partners when the dog is retired for just $1. But Ajax isn’t the one retiring in this case.
[bold is me saying errrrrrr]
This is a technicality if I’ve ever heard of one.
The city's police department doesn't currently have enough staff to train another K-9 officer, according to the Marietta Times.
Anyone who bids on Ajax must have the training to handle a police dog, the Times reported.
Hickey quickly set up a GoFundMe campaign and raised the money:
Officer Matthew Hickey has had K-9 Ajax for the past 4 years working alongside each other keeping Marietta safe. Officer Hickey has recently retired from the Marietta Police Department after over 30 years of excellent service to the city. Originally the city gave Hickey the ability to "purchase" Ajax for $3,500, but then rescinded the offer. Now Ajax is being put up for auction to the highest bidder. This campaign is aimed to assist the Hickeys be able to bid on Ajax in the upcoming auction. Any funds that are left over after bidding on Ajax will be donated to a K-9 fund to the purchase of bullet resistent vests for our Law Enforcement Officers furry partners.
After getting smashed on social media the past week, this note came up on the Marietta Police Department’s Facebook page this morning.
Marietta, Ohio city officials will be holding a press conference today, February 1st at 2:00 p.m. at the Armory concerning the disposition of Police K-9 Ajax.
Get right with your conscience, Marietta.
UPDATE: The Marietta Facebook page posted the transcript of their press conference. In it they claim that, while nothing had been finalized, a deal had been worked on with Officer Hickey’s knowledge, to loophole Ajax the K-9 to Hickey as an auxiliary K-9 unit. The reports that went off on social media, and clearly this diary, were in part mislead by Hickey’s interviews where he omitted these facts.
You can read the entire statement here. The good news is that it looks like Hickey and Ajax will get to retire together. The bad news is something went sideways here, and it wasn’t social media.