The Belfast Police Department will likely join the growing number of law enforcement agencies that equip their canine units with vests that protect the dogs against gunshot and stab wounds.
A group called Vested Interest in K9s has offered to donate the $1,800 vest to the city on behalf of Madeline Hamersley, a Sorrento woman who long supported the charity and died last year at the age of 93. City councilors were likely to accept the donation at their meeting Tuesday night.
If accepted, the vest would be custom-fitted to K9 Spud, the black Labrador retriever that has been trained to work under Officer Jonathan Guba on search-and-rescue missions, drug investigations and other cases.
“There are times where we, just by the nature of our jobs, sometimes come into dangerous situations,” said Chief Robert Cormier in an interview. “It would be just something that would protect Spud, no matter where he is, as long as he’s with us.”
Vested Interest has donated more than 5,700 ballistic vests, among other equipment and supplies, to police departments around the country for their K9 units, and Hamersley was a long-time supporter of the effort, according to Cormier.
“It sounded like she had a huge heart for animals; not just police dogs but all dogs. She must have been an incredibly special person,” he said.
Hamersley’s name will be embroidered on the inside of the vest as a tribute. Vested Interest reached out to agencies with K9 units in the area to offer their donations on Hamersley’s behalf, according to Cormier.
The department has had Spud for approximately two years, taking him out on in a variety of situations.
“Where he’s assigned to someone who’s in patrol, he certainly could be in a situation, occasionally, that’s dangerous,” Cormier said.
