Crime & Safety
Ben Roethlisberger Funds Local PD's New K9
Steelers QB has a foundation dedicated to helping develop and grow K9 units, and recently helped the Fort Lee PD buy a new dog for the force.
The Fort Lee Police Department has a new K9 member, thanks to an NFL quarterback.
The borough announced in a release last week that the department purchased a dog using a $6,500 grant from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation.
The dog, Ajax, recently graduated from an 11-week Scent Work Narcotics K9 Academy, and will enroll in a 16-week patrol K-9 program this fall with Fort Lee Officer John Reuter, a Ramapo College grad and six-year veteran of the department, borough officials said in a release.
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In a ceremony at borough hall welcoming Ajax to the force last week, borough officials wore Pittsburgh Steelers caps in honor of the football player who made the addition possible.
Ajax is the seventh dog in the department’s history, and is one of two currently serving in Fort Lee. Police Chief Keith Bendul said in the release one of his major jobs will be to sniff out heroin, “which is having a pandemic effect on the region and the residents on New Jersey.”
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Roethlisberger’s Foundation collects donations throughout the year and writes grants to police stations across the country to help develop and grow K-9 units.
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