Whether we like it or not, K9 units are considered police “equipment.” And they’re also very large investments of money and time.

That makes it tough to part with them.

An officer in need?

Officer Cody Vojacek of the Corocan Police Department in Minnesota medically retired on December 18, 2020, because he is suffering from – in his own words – “PTSD that caused suicidal ideation and attempts.”

As it happens, Vojacek helped start the department’s K9 program about 4 years ago and was the partner of the only K9 unit, Zeke. After bonding closely with the dog, as is common, he hoped Zeke would remain with him.

In a Facebook post, the retired officer wrote:

“One of the conditions of my retirement recommended by my therapist was to retire my K9 partner, Zeke, to live out his time with me as a service animal. Understand the bond between man and dog after 3 years of being together 24/7 and going into the worst of the worst side by side.”

But it appears it wasn’t meant to be, and Vojacek is devastated.

In the same Facebook post, he thanked Zeke for his partnership and reported:

“As if the job didn’t take enough from me, the chief called today (Jan. 15) and said they will be taking Zeke from me and reassigning him. Mind you, I was done Dec. 17 and have had him since with no communication from the city.”

It’s not so easy

Corcoran Director of Public Safety Matthew Gottschalk told Bring Me The News on Monday that Zeke is the department’s only police dog and that is sympathetic to Vojacek’s plight, it’s not as easy as simply letting the dog retire early. In fact, it would constitute a major donation to the officer.

“I understand and respect former Officer Vojacek’s request to keep Zeke, but I am not currently in a position to have the authority to grant it. The authority for the philanthropic use of City resources falls within the purview of the Corcoran City Council,” Gottschalk said.

Vojacek’s sister Bryanna Skochenski create a Change.org petition titled “Bring Zeke Home” to allow him to keep Zeke. The petition was created on January 15 and has over 9800 of the 10,000 required signatures to get it an official consideration.

At the moment, there is no policy in the city that decides what happens to K9s when their handlers retire.

“While it can be customary for some agencies to make arrangements for handlers to purchase the canine near the end of the canine’s service life, that is not this scenario,” Gottschalk told Bring Me the News, noting if the dog was given to Vojacek, “it would solely be philanthropic in nature and a significant loss of talent for the community.”

A muddled history

While many people have eagerly signed the petition, others were given pause by reports of Vojacek’s past with the department. While he was commended for his work as a DWI enforcer, he was also on the other end of multiple complaints about his search methods.

According to Bring Me The News:

“Hennepin County judges in the past three years dismissed six criminal cases Vojacek worked on, saying he conducted unlawful searches, the Press & News reported in July 2020, noting the unlawful searches all involved traffic stops and some involved the use of a K9 sniffing for drugs. In February 2020, when asked by a judge in the most recently dismissed case if he’d changed his methods, he said he hadn’t because he disagreed with the findings.”

As the country deals with a long history of failing to hold police accountable for illegal actions, the city must also contend with the complaints against Vojacek.

Even before joining the Corcoran Police, Vojacek was the subject of a lawsuit had received reprimands for insubordination, according to KSTP.

However, city officials continued to defend the officer.

“Please do not fall into the false dichotomy that one can only support former Officer Vojacek or be a steward of community resources,” Gottschalk added. “I support Officer Vojacek and I also have a responsibility to respect the hard-earned contributions that our donors and taxpayers put into the formation of the canine program.”

It remains to be seen what will become of Zeke – whether he’ll be allowed to live with Voycheck or be retrained with another handler appears to be up to the city council.

His sister has also started a GoFundMe campaign to help defray the costs, but there’s no guarantee the city would accept money in exchange for the K9.

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Source: Change.org, Facebook – CJ Voycheck, Bring Me The News, KSTP