Police dogs get specially fitted ballistic vests and other gear from Douglas County nonprofit

photo by: Lawrence Police Department
Patrol Service Dog Shadow on July 26, 2022, at the Lawrence Police Department Headquarters, 5100 Overland Drive.
Two four-legged members of the Lawrence Police Department recently got special gifts from an area nonprofit: custom-fitted ballistic vests that will help them do their work more safely.
The vests for patrol service dogs Shadow and Mack were donated to the department by Friends of the K9 Vest Midwest, a nonprofit that was founded by Douglas County resident Emily Fawcett in 2021. Fawcett is the owner of Pampered Pets LFK, an appointment-based business in Lecompton that offers grooming, walking, training, pet sitting and therapy services. She said that when she learned there were police dogs in Kansas who didn’t have protective gear, she couldn’t resist the call to help.
“These dogs are heroes and are often the first line of defense,” Fawcett said. “These guys are trained to do a job, but they don’t understand that on the other end of what they are trained to do, there might be a bullet or a knife and that there could be pain or even death.”

photo by: Lawrence Police Department
Patrol Service Dog Shadow wearing a ballistic vest donated by Friends of the K9 Vest while exiting a patrol vehicle on July 26, 2022, at the Lawrence Police Department Headquarters, 5100 Overland Drive.
Fawcett partners with a ballistic vest manufacturer to supply the custom-made vests. In addition to Shadow and Mack with Lawrence police, her organization has also outfitted seven other dogs throughout Kansas: two dogs with the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office, three Geary County Sheriff’s Office dogs and two Kansas Highway Patrol dogs.
Every dog is different, and every department has different needs, Fawcett said. For an organization that works in a city, like the Lawrence Police Department, that means tailored vests that are more expensive to create — about $2,000 each — and that are specially fitted for each dog.
“City dogs, like Mack and Shadow, these guys are going in crawl spaces, attics, and cars,” Fawcett said. “They need something streamlined so that they don’t get caught on something. So many measurements are taken and these $2,000 vests fit these guys like a glove.”
But for dogs who work in rural areas, departments might want vests that are interchangeable and can be worn by many different dogs. The streamlined vests aren’t as important for them, Fawcett said, because “these dogs that are county dogs, sheriff’s dogs, are dealing with a different terrain. They are usually running through fields and wide open spaces.”
These interchangeable vests are cheaper than the custom vests, costing around $800 to $860 each, Fawcett said.
So far, Fawcett said there has been plenty of demand for the vests, and it’s not just from departments in Kansas. She said she’s currently raising money to outfit six dogs on the waiting list — three of them are in Kansas, and the other three are with the Border Patrol in Texas.
“Agencies reach out to us, and we aren’t going to turn down anybody,” she said. “I’ve talked to these guys (with the Border Patrol) on the phone and they will tell me what these dogs do, like jumping out of planes and helicopters. We are just excited that the word about us is getting out.”
Friends of the K9 Vest Midwest also works to provide law enforcement agencies with other equipment they may need for their dogs, including mundane things like Kong chew toys as well as more specialized gear like flashlights that mount to the dogs’ vests. One agency even requested a bite suit for take-down training, Fawcett said.
“If somebody is needing something, then we are more than happy to get it,” she said. “The Border Patrol dogs are going to want these certain types of clips that are going to hold these dogs securely to the helicopters, so of course we are going to get those.”
Fawcett also prepares care packages for service dogs when they become injured or retire. She said she recently did one for Lawrence police dog Deuce, who retired in March because of a leg injury and is now living with his handler, Officer Kevin Henderson.
“Deuce was actually the first K-9 that we were going to vest, and we had already raised the money and sent off his measurements to the manufacturer and we were excited,” Fawcett said. “Then Kevin called me late at night … and told me that Deuce had torn his ACL and that they were going to retire him.”
There are now three dogs on the Lawrence police force, said Laura McCabe, a spokesperson with the Lawrence Police Department: Cheeseburger, Mack and Shadow, all of whom are Belgian Malinois. Shadow, who began patrolling in November, is the newest dog on the force, she said.
Unlike his coworkers, Cheeseburger won’t be receiving a vest because he’s going to retire soon and the department thought a custom-fitted vest for him wouldn’t be cost-effective, Fawcett said.

photo by: Richard Gwin/Journal World-Photo
Cheeseburger training on Aug. 13, 2015.
McCabe said the vests have been a welcome addition to the department’s specialized patrol service dog gear, which also includes special leashes, collars, and patrol cars with custom kennels and temperature control sensors. The department has had a dog unit since 2015, which was the year that Cheeseburger arrived, and McCabe said the department has outlined a plan to expand the program in the future.
Fawcett has big plans for her operations, as well, especially in terms of fundraising. She said her next big events are planned for August because the month is often celebrated as a birthday month for rescue dogs whose exact birthday isn’t known. First, she plans to hold a “doggy birthday bash” in Lawrence on Aug. 14 from 2 to 9 p.m. at Old Chicago, 545 Wakarusa Drive. She’s also planning a larger fundraising event on Aug. 29 in Edgerton, Missouri, where she said she’s found a farm that’s willing to host an “almost Woodstock-like event for us with lots of music and food vendors.”
At the end of the day, it’s all about helping the dogs stay safe and continue doing what McCabe says is a very important job.
“Everyone loves dogs and they’re fun to talk about, but the reality is that this program is an extremely valuable service to the community. These animals save lives and fight crime and they do it very well every day,” McCabe said.
To find out more about Friends of the K9 Vest Midwest, visit the organization’s Facebook page.

photo by: Contributed: Lawrence Police Department
Retired Patrol Service Dog, Deuce, playing poolside.