The sad fate of a police horse. Served 12 years, can't count on a pension
Not every police officer can count on a pension after serving many years in the force. Blue Baker served in the Silesian police for 12 years. However, this is not enough for the animal to receive a pension after retiring. The Provincial Police Headquarters in Katowice has found a loophole it now uses to not pay the money due.
Blue Baker, a Silesian breed horse, known for its endurance, size and calmness, was born in 2009. Although the breed is often used in harness sports, for which the animals are prepared from an early age, a different path awaited Blue Baker. In 2011, the animal was purchased with funds from the Częstochowa Regional Board of the Police Unions (Polish: Zarząd Terenowy NSZZ Policjantów Komendy Miejskiej Policji w Częstochowie) and found his way to the horse squad of the Częstochowa police department.
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Games, patrols, border control - Blue Baker did it all
Blue Baker worked for the police from 2011 until early 2023. During this time the horse patrolled the streets, secured mass events, including football matches, and also guarded the Polish-Belarusian border. All these merits were not enough to provide the animal with a dignified retirement. In the case of police dogs, the matter is simpler - retired animals are most often adopted by their handlers. In the case of horses, the matter is complicated: hardly any police officer has a stable where a four-legged officer could live.
Blue Baker is not owned by the police
Problems arose as Blue Baker's health deteriorated. The horse began to decline in health in 2017. The animal underwent surgery, which improved its wellbeing for a while. In 2023, it was decided to remove the horse from service. With his retirement, the animal returned to the hands of the unionists who decided to buy him 12 years ago. As a result, Blue Baker cannot count on the pension that is paid to other animal police officers.
Under current legislation, a retired police animal is entitled to a monthly lump sum for food and medical treatment. The Provincial Police Headquarters in Katowice refused, explaining that the horse belongs to a trade union.
"The Provincial Police Headquarters did not seem to care about Blue Baker’s future. They wrote us back that unfortunately, on the basis of the unclear regulations and a legal loophole, it is not possible to allocate this benefit and only if the regulations change, they will allocate it then," Arkadiusz Kobiela, chairman of the Częstochowa Regional Board of the Police Unions, told a TVN24 reporter.
Blue Baker's carers do not want to leave the animal unattended. To help him receive his due pension, they hired a lawyer. The law firm determined that the unclear legislation should be interpreted in Blue Baker's favour. Although the trade unionists wanted to settle the matter amicably, knowing that the horse's case would reflect negatively on the image of the police, months of negotiations were unsuccessful.
As a result, the Częstochowa Regional Board of the Police Unions sued the Provincial Police Headquarters in Katowice. The unions hope that the case will end with a pension awarded for Blue Baker, who gave 12 years of his life to police service.
Source: TVN24
