OAKIE

Oakie and his handler, School Resource Officer Stephen Hathaway, have been working together since June of 2022 for the Dighton Police Department. Oakie is the departments first K9 of any sort and he was welcomed with open arms. Oakie spends his days primarily at the Dighton Middle and Elementary Schools. Here, Oakie greets students in hallways, attends classroom visits, hangs out in the guidance office, attends monthly breakfast with “Oakies Students of The Month” and of course High-Five Fridays. However, it is not uncommon for Oakie to find himself at the Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School or the Bristol County Agricultural High School. When Oakie is not at one of the schools in town he's participating in all types of community events. Oakie and SRO Hathaway attend most town sponsored events from sporting events, at the council on aging, annual “Lights On” ceremony, Art Festival and he is a routine visitor, and favorite, at Homes For Our Troops. 

When not at work, Oakie lives with Stephen, his wife Jessica and their daughter Hannah who is 3 Years old. Hannah and Oakie are inseparable on weeknights and on the weekends. Oakie frequently finds himself being a jungle-gym and he loves every moment of it! Hannah lets Oakie participates in all of her tea parties and lets him lay amongst her dolls as she lays them down to “sleep”. Besides playing with his best buddy Hannah, Oakie loves to play fetch, run through leaf piles, run in the snow and of course take plenty of naps. Oakie is usually traveling everywhere with Stephen and Jess and everyone always comments on his behavior and looks. Oakies least favorite part of the job is vacations. Oakie misses his routines of seeing everyone at work, especially playing fetch with Detective Richards at the station. Oakie has truly changed the way the Town of Dighton, and the surrounding City and Towns view the Police. With a shake of his butt, his tail is soon to follow and he immediately wins over everyone’s hearts.