BATAVIA, Ohio — Controversy has erupted in the Village of Batavia after council members voted to sell one of the police department's K9s.
The village council approved a contract Monday to sell K9 Drees for $1,500. However, some people believe the reasoning behind that decision is suspicious.
Former Batavia Police Chief Mike Gardner said it started when Drees's handler told the department he was leaving for another job. According to the Village of Batavia's website, Drees's current handler is Officer Chris Whitaker.
Gardner claims that Whitaker's decision to leave upset some village leaders. He said they decided to take the 9-year-old dog away from Whitaker and sell it.
So, if Whitaker wants the dog, he has to buy it back.
"In my opinion, it's nothing except retaliation because he's leaving," Gardner said.
Learn more about the council's decision to sell the K9 in the video below:
Gardner said Drees has been in the department for eight years, and Whitaker has been his handler for four years.
Gardner voiced his frustration with council members during their meeting Monday. After an exchange of words, he was asked to be removed by security.
Gardner was chief when the K9 program started in 2015. He said the dog was funded from donations from The Matt Haverkamp Foundation and drug fund money.
"The taxpayers are losing nothing by this dog leaving," Gardner said.
Part of the frustration for people like Gardner stems from the Ohio law allowing handlers to buy their K9s for $1 when the dogs retire. However, village leaders claim Drees still has two years of service left.
Section D of that law states "a law enforcement officer who leaves an equine or canine unit of a law enforcement agency while the police dog or horse assigned to the officer is still fit for duty forfeits the right to purchase the animal under this section."
However, Gardner said the council is lying about the years of service Drees has left.
He said Drees is trained to detect marijuana. With new laws legalizing the drug, it could lead to liability issues for the department. Gardner said many K9s across the state had to retire after marijuana was legalized.
"Their own contract that they wrote says he's untrainable for a third handler, which is not good for the dog either," Gardner said.
Jim DeCamp, a former Clermont County Deputy Sheriff and K9 handler, said making Whitaker pay for the dog is cruel.
"At best, the dog might have had maybe 6 months to a year left working," DeCamp said.
DeCamp said he loaned a $2,000 crate to the department years ago. He said he had a deal with the department that they could use the crate as long as their K9 program is afloat.
He said he learned the crate was also being sold by the village.
"The crate didn't belong to the village, so how can they sell that?" DeCamp asked.
DeCamp said he reached out to village leaders to get more information on getting his crate back or getting refunded. He said no one called him back.
WCPO 9 News reached out to the mayor, village administrator and interim police chief for comment. We have not heard back.
"Anybody that thinks he's taking the dog to work someplace else, that is absolutely not true," Gardner said.
Many people have offered donations to pay for Drees for Whitaker. It's unclear at this time if Drees has been sold by the village.
