LA VERGNE, Tenn. – A bit of good luck for a La Vergne Police lieutenant has turned into potentially lifesaving protection for a police K9 about an hour away in Tullahoma.
La Vergne Police Lt. Eric Staats won the opportunity to provide a ballistic vest to a police K9 last year while attending the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference after being named LPD’s Supervisor of the Year. There was just one problem – every K9 at the La Vergne Police Department already had a vest.
The prize, provided through Spike’s K9 Fund and Tyler Technologies, was not simply a vest that could be pulled off a shelf and handed to another department. Each ballistic vest is fitted and manufactured specifically for the K9 that will wear it, meaning Staats first had to find a police dog that needed the protection…