Axel earns Superintendent's Award from MSDLT

The Lawrence Township Board of Education honored LPD K-9 Officer Axel with the Superintendent’s Award during the April 22 Board of Education meeting. Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Shawn Smith presented the award to Axel's handler, LPD Officer Matt Hickey. MSDLT is the first district in the nation to host two K-9s (Axel and Niko). The K- 9 program is made possible by the K9s4Cops program.

Axel came to the MSDLT in 2015 to live with Hickey. Building on an excellent working relationship, MSDLT and LPD collaborate to maximize Axel’s presence in the community. The district and the LPD share the fiscal responsibilities for Axel and both have full access to his capabilities. When not in the schools, Axel can be seen assisting LPD officers with narcotic investigations, sniffing packages for the postal service or attending drug prevention & public education details.

Axel was bred in the Netherlands, and receives commands in Dutch, in addition to silent hand commands. For security reasons, deployment records are not available, but at different points, Axel was deployed in Afghanistan with the U.S. military for two tours of duty as a patrol/bite and narcotics detection K-9. Following the downsizing of the K-9 operation, several “surplus” working dogs remained who still had a useful working life, but who were no longer needed as active duty service dogs. Axel was in a group of 92 working dogs flown from the Middle East to New York and transported by a large motor caravan to the AMK9 Academy in Anniston, Alabama, site of the former Fort McClellan.

Last month, Axel received the American Legion's Medal of Valor for his service from Paul Norton, First Vice Commander of the Historic Fort Benjamin Harrison American Legion Post #510. In addition to the medal, Axel received a Lifetime Honorary membership to Post #510.