Nonprofit hopes to donate K-9 unit to Volusia Sheriff's Office

A nonprofit organization is hoping to help the Volusia County Sheriff's Office after hearing that one of their K-9 units was shot and killed Tuesday.

Kristi Schiller started K9s 4 Cops back in 2010, and donated her first fully trained dog to a law enforcement agencies in 2011.

"I just assumed that police departments have purchase orders, they just went and got what they needed. That's why we paid our taxes and it was all that simple. It's not. It is the first expense cut from any major budget in a police department," Schiller said.

Her organization has since donated more than 130 dogs nationwide, in Paris after the terror attack last year. The group would like to see if the Volusia County Sheriff's Office qualifies for a donated K-9 unit.

"Hopefully we would like to supplement the one there in Orlando. We never say the word replace because it can't replace what that dog brought to their department and to his handlers life," Schiller said.

There are two dogs with the St. Cloud Police Department that are waiting on the arrival of their ballistic vests from an organization called Vested Interest in K9s. The organization said donations have allowed them to give about 2,200 vest to law enforcement K9s across the county.

"It's a tragedy, and we hope that you know people know about us so that we can be there to help. We would like to be proactive in helping to that maybe some of these you know these tragedies could be prevented. A vest is going to help in some situations, but it's not going to help in every situation," said president and founder Sandy Marcal.

Marcal said that the death of Forrest in Volusia County is the 31st law enforcement K-9 unit killed in the line of duty so far in 2016.

"With the trend that we are seeing with the increased violence towards law enforcement we are seeing more dogs being injured, killed in the line of duty," Marcal said.

Orlando police and the Osceola County Sheriff's Office said they do not have any ballistic vests for their K9s. The Seminole County Sheriff's Office said that their agency has one.


About the Author:

Troy graduated from California State University Northridge with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. He has reported on Mexican drug cartel violence on the El Paso/ Juarez border, nuclear testing facilities at the Idaho National Laboratory and severe Winter weather in Michigan.

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