Donations pour in to help ex-cop buy his K9 police partner

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Donations pour in to help ex-cop buy his K9 police partner

Updated 4:10 pm, Saturday, January 30, 2016

MARIETTA, Ohio (AP) — A retired Ohio police officer wants to purchase his longtime K9 partner but the town says he's going to have bid for him.

Recently retired Marietta officer Matt Hickey wants to buy his partner, Ajax. He's offered to buy the dog for $3,500 — Ajax's estimated value. But the city says Ajax must be sold at auction because he's public property.

A GoFundMe page set up to help buy Ajax has raised more than $24,000 as of Saturday. The page says excess funds will go toward buying protective vests for other K9 officers.

Hickey told WBNS-TV (http://bit.ly/1WSTGq5) he's had the Ajax for three years and that he's like a family member.



Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Donations-pour-in-to-help-ex-cop-buy-his-K9-6795549.php

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[center]

Matt Hickey and Ajax. [/center]

[niyad]

1. the town is obviously run by idiots.

[Drahthaardogs]

3. No. It is the citizens who are idiots.

Assuming they let him buy back the dog, rest assured some "tax payer" is going to howl. "We could have raised MONEY for that dog It could have lowered OUR tax burden!"

Then the lawyers get involved. Then the FOIAs come. Then your public employees spend 300 fucking hours photocopying records for dog care.

Trust me. Been there. Done that...

[ToxMarz]

4. They're really just following the law

It may seem unfair because it is a dog/friend and not a police cruiser, but if they can make an exception here, then they can make an exception there. Soon you just have corruption, political favors, cronyism, etc. Sounds like it worked out well, he's got more than enough crowd sourced to ensure he will have his dog, and the rest of the dogs get life saving equipment. The Government worked to protect the taxpayers interests. Win-win.

[niyad]

6. soon you have corruption? really???

[newthinking]

11. Actually yes. Many governments have open bidding agreements

because they do work to lower conflicts of interest and various forms of corruption.

It is a form of corruption to take home government assets at under their value. Putting them for bid is a way of determining fair market value.

Of course a Police dog is not simply an "asset".

The police dog appears to be younger than what might be a normal retirement age so there are a number of considerations for a transparent government to consider. It is not quite so simple. How much money has been invested in training, how much to replace, etc. I doubt the cost of training a police dog is cheap, I would not be surprised if it is in the neighborhood of $20k.

This actually looks like the local government is being quite generous. The dog has only been in service for 3 years?

[niyad]

22. I was simply questioning the "SOON" you have corruption, as though this isn't a staple of

most governments at every level.

[shenmue]

2. Arf!

[niyad]

5. hi shenmue. how are you and murphy doing tonight?

[shenmue]

7. We good. Murphy watchin teebee wif Dad.

[niyad]

8. glad to hear that. give him a hug from his cyber-aunt.

[shenmue]

10. Yes

[Hestia]

9. They're doing it wrong - they need to do like they did in the Depression - bid a nickel

Usually neighbors would do this for each other.

During the 1930s — one of the other times of major stress on the farm — activists in Nebraska came up with a way to try and halt foreclosures. A bank would announce that they had to foreclose on a farmer who couldn’t pay his or her loan. The sheriff would serve the papers and an auction would be scheduled to sell off the land and equipment that had been pledged against the loan. The bank would hope the proceeds from the sale would amount to most of the money they were losing on the loan.

But many farm activists felt that the bankers were being too greedy, and that the farmers deserved a break in tough times. So, hundreds of farmers would show up at the auction and bid ridiculously low amounts for the equipment and land on the sale. Serious bidders were discouraged, sometimes by the threat of violence. Then, the activists would turn around and give the material back to the farm family who were in trouble. The proceeds of the first of these sales were $5.35 for equipment that should have brought hundreds or thousands of dollars. In the 30s, these were known as "Penny Auctions."

In the 1980s, they were known as "Nickel Auctions."

http://www.nebraskastudies.org/1000/frameset_reset.html?http://www.nebraskastudies.org/1000/stories/1001_0116.html

Why let that town make a dime over this "auction" when the guy had already offered to reimburse for the cost of training, etc. Starve the beast...

[PersonNumber503602]

14. Because anyone can come in and bid on these things

many times they even do these auctions online.


I kind of understand why they do this, but I would have figured a dog would be different than other assets.

[glinda]

12. Keep us updated if he is able to buy him back!

[Judi Lynn]

15. If I find anything I definitely will! Thanks. n/t

[Skittles]

13. property

that is hideous - that needs to be changed

[840high]

16. They belong togrther.

[William Seger]

17. ... and GoFundMe makes $1200 for hosting a web page

... and that's not counting the fees charged by the actual payment processor like PayPal, because all GoFundMe does is link to the processor -- the same thing you can do on Facebook for free. The irony is that most users then link to their GoFundMe page from their Facebook page, which is the main way they get actual exposure. GoFundMe are greedy leaches, exploiting compassion in an extremely despicable way.

[glinda]

18. Any better funding sites?

[William Seger]

20. Just use Facebook

You need your own PayPal or WePay account to use GoFundMe, anyway, and if you have a PayPal account you can make a Donate button and put it on a Facebook page.
https://www.google.com/search?q=paypal+button+on+facebook+page

[Crabby Appleton]

19. Update - he gets to keep the dog

If he serves as an Auxiliary Officer

http://nbc4i.com/2016/02/01/marietta-police-officer-able-to-keep-his-k-9-partner/

[Judi Lynn]

21. Wow, good news! He really loves his K-9 partner. It would be cruel to separate them now.

The dog would undoubtedly suffer having the one he trusted and followed, in his life.

Thank you for sharing this information.

[Crabby Appleton]

23. The city has decided to sell officer the dog for $1.00

http://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/retired-ohio-police-officer-gets-to-buy-k-9-partner-for-1-02-04-2016


MARIETTA (AP) -- A recently retired Ohio police officer will get to keep his K-9 partner after all.

Officials in Marietta created a social-media stir when they said Matt Hickey's police dog, Ajax, had to be sold at auction because Ajax was city property and could still work. The pair worked together for three years, and the dog lived with Hickey.

On Thursday Hickey was allowed to buy Ajax from the southeastern Ohio city for $1.

Earlier this week, the city said it would allow Hickey to keep the dog if Hickey continued to work for the department on a volunteer basis after his retirement. Hickey refused, noting that he retired in January out of health concerns.

[trillion]

24. Thanks for the update! Glad to hear it!