A retired police officer in Ohio has started a crowdfunding campaign to help him purchase his K-9 partner, according to FOX News. Officer Matthew Hickey of the Marietta Police Department retired last week and has been partnered with police dog Ajax for four years.
According to state law, officers are allowed to buy their K-9 units for $1 when the dog retires, but the rules are not the same if only the human is retiring, according to FOX News. An officer who retires while their animal is "still fit for duty forfeits the right to purchase the animal", meaning that Ajax is not automatically permitted to retire alongside his human partner, according to NBC News.
Hickey offered to purchase Ajax for his estimated value of $3,500 but Ohio law states that he must be sold at a public auction because he is legally city property that is worth over $1,000, according to NY Daily News. He can only be sold to current and former officers or a police dog trainer but Hickey was still concerned that someone would outbid him for Ajax, leading to the creation of a GoFundMe campaign to help fund the purchase.
The amount raised currently stands at $65,660, almost twenty times Ajax's proposed worth, with any excess funds following the auction to be donated to a fund that purchases bulletproof vests for police dogs. A statement from the Marietta Police Department called the support for the campaign "the one bright spot in the frenzy surrounding [the] issue."
Authorities have since stated that Hickey will be able to keep Ajax by becoming an auxiliary member of the department and therefore be permitted to remain as Ajax's handler, but it is unknown whether Hickey will accept this offer, according to NY Daily News.
