Thanks to Millis High School senior and animal lover Brenna Nelson, at least one K-9 police officer, like Holliston’s K-9 Cesh, will be a little bit safer after the school year.
“I was born into a police family,” says Nelson. “My Grandpa and my Dad were patrolmen, and it was always an interest to me. I want to do something with law enforcement, and for my senior project, I came up with trying to protect these dogs.”
Nelson notes that there have been some cases in national news of police dogs getting hurt on the job, including K-9 Jethro from Ohio, who, sadly, did not make it after he was shot.
“A lot of people don’t realize the importance of them. They risk their lives for their officers,” says Nelson. “They deserve to be protected like regular officers, because they’re officers, too.”
Nelson has had the help of Holliston Police Sgt. Matt Stone, who brought K-9 Cesh for a demonstration to her school group.
Nelson’s goal is to raise enough for a S.W.A.T. vest for a local K-9.
“A bulletproof dog vest is $1,000, but the one I’m raising money for is $2,400 that is a S.W.A.T. vest. It has attachments on the back of the vest to hook up a camera, so they can see what the dog sees when sending the dog in first,” she says. She adds that the dogs can get into smaller areas where human officers can’t and some are trained to sniff out narcotics and weapons.
As of mid-March, Nelson had seen great response to her fundraiser and was just about $200 from her goal.
Nelson has been working with Mass. Vest a Dog, (http://www.mavestadog.org), which has provided 420 K-9 vests in the Commonwealth since 2000.
If you would like to support Brenna Nelson’s effort, visit https://www.gofundme.com/gc9g4rck.
Issue Date:
March, 2016
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