Police dogs get uniforms of their own

Furry members of Chapel Hill’s K-9 Unit will soon be suiting up with donated bulletproof, stab-proof vests.

Vested Interest in K-9s, Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Massachusetts, is donating two vests to the Chapel Hill K-9 Unit to ensure the safety of these dogs while working in the field.

The dogs are used for detecting narcotics, tracking people, searching for evidence and apprehending subjects.

In 2011 The Daily Tar Heel reported on Chapel Hill Police Officer Stephen Shaw and K9 Jax, the dog that he handles.

The story prompted Sandy Marcal, president of Vested Interest in K-9s, to reach out to Shaw.

The Chapel Hill Police Department currently has three police dogs, one of which already has a vest.

Jax and fellow K9 Kearney will be receiving donated vests in the coming weeks.

Jax is a German Shepard and Belgian Malinois mix. Kearney is a Belgian Malinois.

The dogs live with their handlers when they are not on patrol.

Jax rides with Shaw on every shift in the kennel in the backseat of Shaw’s patrol car.

“I see more of Jax than I do of my wife or anyone else,” Shaw said.

Shaw said it’s important to outfit the dogs with vests because they are exposed to the same risks as the officers, who wear bulletproof vests when they’re in the field.

Each custom-made vest costs $1,006 and has a five year warranty.

“It’s a potentially life-saving piece of equipment,” Marcal said.

Sgt. Josh Mecimore, public information officer for the Chapel Hill Police Department, said in an email no dogs in the Chapel Hill K-9 Unit have been shot or stabbed in the line of duty.

But he said dogs have been injured in other ways in the field.

“The K-9 unit trains several times a month and would certainly train with the dogs in the vests prior to them wearing the vests in the field,” Mecimore said.

Most dogs work for an average of six to eight years.

“As soon as we start noticing any health issues or limping, we retire them because we want them to have a good quality of life afterward,” Shaw said.

An anonymous donor in Georgia provided the funds for Jax’s donated vest.

Kearney’s vest was funded by money raised in a Groupon campaign that allowed customers to make tax-deductible donations to Vested Interest in K-9s.

The campaign funded vests for 53 dogs in 18 states. They have a waiting list of more than 20 dogs nationally.

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.