Ringo

From MSN:

"Police detective demoted after dropping his retired K-9 at an animal shelter"

The chief of police here is checking on the whereabouts of all the force's retired police dogs after one of his department's dog handlers dropped off a retired K-9 at a suburban animal shelter. Detective Carl Ellis was the handler for Ringo, a yellow Labrador retriever who had worked nine years on the narcotics team of the Jackson Police Department. When Ringo and a fellow K-9 officer that trained at the same time, a German shepherd named Alpha, retired in October, department officials thought Ringo was going to live with his handler. Alpha retired at Detective Anthony Fox's house Instead, police Chief James Davis learned that Ringo was adopted from the Webster Animal Shelter in Madison, Miss.,  about 12 miles northeast of Jackson. Someone had tipped off the man who trained Ringo and Alpha a decade ago, Randy Hare, who decided to adopt Ringo, The New York Times reported. Davis demoted Ellis to officer and reassigned him to patrol duty, Sgt. Roderick Holmes said. Ellis was not available for comment. "The Jackson Police Department respects and holds our canines with high regard just as we do any other officer within our department," said a statement issued last week from the department. "They are family, and we do not feel they deserve anything less than a loving home in retirement." In 2000, Congress passed and then-President Bill Clinton signed Robby's Law to allow handlers to adopt their retired military and police dogs. Before then, these dogs were usually euthanized. A dog's handler is given first priority to adopt. Ringo and Alpha had sniffed out drugs and were used for search and rescue and tracking. "They served the city very well — hundreds of thousands of dollars, uncountable seizures with narcotics," Fox said at the time of their retirement. "They can be a dog now." Both golden Labs and German shepherds live an average of 8 to 12 years, the American Kennel Club said. Across the USA every year, more than 10,000 dogs who work for local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies are retired because of age, according to the Retired Police Canine Foundation, a Yaphank, New York-based nonprofit that helps with veterinary and other expenses for families that adopt retired police dogs. Many end up in animal shelters, but the charity does not have a tally. In July, a Hinds County Sheriff's Department K-9 died of a heat stroke when a deputy left the Belgian Malinois inside his department's SUV that was running for about an hour while he was having lunch. The 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe shut down and the vehicle overheated. Jackson's police department also is drafting requirements for the welfare of retired K-9s to ensure the best care possible, according to its statement.

^ This is such a sad story. Ringo served the Jackson Police Department and the community and deserves to have a relaxing retirement with either his handler or another police officer. The fact that his handler, Carl Ellis, simply gave him to an animal shelter shows that he (Ellis) is not the right person to be around animals. If Ellis couldn't or didn't want to take care of Ringo when he retired then he could have told his superiors at the Police Department and they could have found someone else to take Ringo. Instead it seems Ellis took the coward's way out and brought Ringo to an animal shelter behind everyone's back. I am glad that Ellis was demoted for this since it really shows a lack of character. I really hope Ringo and all the other service dogs like him (from the police, fire, military, etc.) can find great homes - preferably with their handlers - so they can be honored for their service. ^

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/police-detective-demoted-after-dropping-his-retired-k-9-at-an-animal-shelter/ar-BBR91Jn?ocid=spartanntp