Northern Regional's police dog getting protective vest with donation from Rich-Mar Rotary

Ballistic vests have long been an integral part of a the gear police officers rely on to protect them during dangerous encounters.

So for officers who rely on a dog as part of their patrol duties, protecting their canine partners from serious injury is just as important.

But until last week, the Northern Regional Police Department’s dog Theo has had to go without the protection provided by a bullet and stab resistant vest.

To help cover the cost of outfitting the Labrador, members of the Rich-Mar Rotary Club presented the police department with a check for $1,500 to buy a vest along with a supply of food during a ceremony in Pine Community Park on Aug. 9.

Theo, whose handler is Officer Michael Stevenson, has been on the job since Jan. 27, when he replaced Nolte as the department’s police dog.

Theo was born in Hungary and has training in tracking and explosive detection.

Chief John Sicilia said having a trained police dog is a valuable asset to the department.

“Like many departments, we’ve used German Shepherds in the past for our K9 unit,” he said. “We cover about 50 square miles and have a large number of senior citizen facilities and youth treatment centers. So we thought having a Labrador that has been trained to track people when they go missing would benefit us the most.”

The Northern Regional Police Department covers Pine, Richland, Marshall and Bradford Woods.

The chief the donation to buy a protective vest for Theo is important the department.

“K9 units are a valuable addition to a police department, but they are not cheap to operate,” he said. “In addition to the buying and training the dog, a specially outfitted vehicle is needed along with the day-to-day expenses of feeding the dog and providing it with medical care.

The vest is being purchased through a national nonprofit organization called Vested Interest in K9s, which was launched in 2009 as a charity to help furnish bullet and stab protective vests and other assistance to dogs working in law enforcement. The organization has helped provide more than 5,127 vests to police dogs since its inception.

Northern Regional started its police dog, or K9, unit in May 2007 after Officer Mike Dorsch and his dog Dark were hired the previous month.

Dark was retired in September 2014 and replaced by Nolte, who worked with the department until being replaced by Theo late last year.

Northern Regional will us $985 from the Rotary’s $1,500 donation to buy Theo’s vest from Vested Interest, with the remainder of money going for a supply of food.

The donation was made after a member of the Rich-Mar Rotary Club, retired Shaler police officer Jim Long, alerted the organization to the need.

“Rotary looks for opportunities to help the community,” said David Hein, the club’s president elect, who will replace current president Thomas Kvederis. “So when Jim Long mentioned that Northern Regional has a dog that didn’t have a vest, we saw it as an opportunity to help out.”