Sevier County Sheriff’s K9s Get Ballistic Vests

Police dogs with the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office will be safer on the job thanks to a grant of four ballistic vests from Vested Interest in K9s.

Sevier County Sheriff’s Office K9s Samurai, Cross, Hekko and Dasko have been awarded bullet and stab resistant vests through a program from Vested Interest in K9s, a non-profit organization located in East Taunton, Mass.

The Sevier County Sheriff’s Office submitted applications for their dogs to Vested Interest in K9s, who offers ballistic K9 vests at no cost to the law enforcement agencies through an application process. The program is open to law enforcement dogs who are U.S. employed, certified and at least 19 months of age. The organization provided 441 K9 ballistic vests to law enforcement agencies in 2014.

“The canines are not only a valuable part of their community, but also family members and they deserve to have the same level of protection as their human officers,” said Sandy Marcal, founder of Vested Interest in K9s. “We are happy to be a part of that.”

Each state of the art K9 vest costs $950. They are made in the United States and have a warranty of five years. Vested Interest in K9s funds the vests through corporate and private sponsors, as well as fundraising. This grant to the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office was made possible through $3,800 in donations from a fundraiser hosted by Logan’s Roadhouse in Sevierville, Jodi Wiatrowski of N.Y., and an anonymous sponsor.

Find out how you can help provide life-saving ballistic vests for police dogs.