A generous donation will make the four-legged member of the Tooele City Police Department a little safer on the job.
Tooele residents Rodney and Jennifer Goller donated a bulletproof vest for the Tooele Drug and Gang Task Force’s K-9 dog. The $1,285 vest was custom-fitted and will be worn by Maggie, a 3-year-old Labrador retriever, in high-risk situations.
Officer Josh Curtis is Maggie’s handler and he said the vest will help keep her safe when she’s involved in tracking incidents, searches and serving search warrants.
Since the majority of tracking and searches happen at night, Maggie is at risk of injury if the suspect being tracked is dangerous, Curtis said.
“When we’re tracking, she’s on a 20- to 30-foot lead,” he said. “If she encounters someone with a weapon, she’ll see the first of it.”
It can be especially dangerous because tracking K-9s are trained with rewards for finding their target, so Maggie doesn’t expect danger when she locates a target, Curtis said. Maggie previously wore a tracking vest, but it was essentially a harness and did not provide any protection.
Curtis said he expects Maggie will use the vest several times a month. The vest, which arrived about a week ago, hasn’t been worn in the field yet. But Curtis said Maggie has been training to adjust for the extra weight and restricted movement.
After the Gollers’ first dog, China Blue, passed away, the couple made small donations to pet-related charities. When they saw a news report about a kid raising money for bulletproof vests for police dogs, the Gollers decided to do the same.
“She brought us closer together,” Rodney Goller said. “We wanted to do it in her name.”
Rodney Goller said they agreed to make the donation back in November but it took several months for the vest to be fitted, purchased and shipped. The Gollers, who have three dogs, paid for the vest out-of-pocket.
Curtis said the donation provides Maggie with protection that the police department didn’t have funds to provide.
“It really wasn’t something in our budget that we would have gotten her, so it’s great to have people in the community that will step up and help bridge the cost,” he said.
