Gwinnett County Police K9 Unit

Project Paws Alive, a local nonprofit, has kicked-off its fundraising effort to provide vital equipment for the Gwinnett County Police K-9 Unit based in Georgia. The equipment goal for the unit consists of K-9 Ballistic vests, K-9 first aid field trauma kits, and military-grade K9 cooling vests.

The Gwinnett County Police K-9 Unit consists of 10 K-9s along with their officer handlers. The K-9s specialize in narcotics, tracking, detection, and patrol work.

The K-9 ballistic protective vests are bullet-proof and stab-proof containing level IIA ballistic protection and level III spike protection which exceeds the current National Institute of Justice (NIJ) 06 regulations. These vests are cut from the same Kevlar bulletproof cloth as their human partners, covering all the vital organs. These vests help protect the K-9s from gun shots, stabbings, and other blunt force trauma such as being kicked, punched, or beaten with a weapon or other dangerous object while on duty. These protective vests are a vital piece of equipment to protect law enforcement K-9s.

Each K-9 body armor vest donated by Project Paws Alive is custom sized per K9 and manufactured using the latest technology and materials in order to fit the body shape and size of each K-9 officer. The vests are designed so that the K-9s can wear the vests the entire time that they are working with their assigned handlers. They offer outstanding ballistic protection with ease of movement, breathe-ability and cooling comfort in a rigorously field-tested vest. They are the lightest-weight K9 vests currently available.

The Tactical K-9 First Aid Field Trauma Kit is military-grade and designed for use by Law Enforcement, Military, Fire, EMS, and Search & Rescue K-9 Units. This kit contains specific supplies needed to treat the K-9 for injuries ranging from gunshot and knife wounds to snake bites. The kit provides the necessary tools to address the major traumatic injuries common to K-9’s operating in the military and law enforcement environment as well as common K-9 emergencies such as bloat, heat injury, and toxic ingestion. Made with self-repairing zippers and silent 550 cord pulls, the kit is also water-resistant. The MOLLE style webbing and Infrared Signature Reduction make this kit the superior solution whether on daily patrol, tactical missions, explosives details, covert operations, or extended search and tracking purposes.

The Tactical kit bag is constructed of rugged 500D Cordura. The kit can be slung over the shoulder in bandolier fashion, hand-carried, or worn around the waist as a belly-bag. The trauma kit can also be attached to the K-9 ballistic vests and K-9 cooling vests provided by PPA.

K-9 teams face substantial risks on a daily basis. These dogs have been punched, stabbed, poisoned and shot by fleeing suspects. Those who work in Search & Rescue, Apprehension and Explosive Detection teams have an increased risk of injury due to extreme conditions, poisoning, or explosion. Tracking teams that spend hours in the woods and remote areas do not have access to immediately available emergency care.

While emergency care is often readily available to the handler, the same cannot be said of the their canine partner. Training officers to administer first aid to their injured canine partner is only part of the solution, equipping them with a K-9 tactical first aid trauma kit for use in the field can make a huge difference.

Distribution of these kits will give the handlers the means to do just that. In addition, everything in the kit can also be used to treat and/or the save the life of the human handler

Many Law Enforcement K-9 Units do not have the budget to purchase these life-saving pieces of equipment. Most agencies are prohibited from spending funds on equipment that is not for human officer use. A majority of these units are funded solely by donations. Nationwide K-9 Units are typically classified as “non-essential” or “specialty” units and therefore do not often have the ability to purchase these costly protective items. Please consider donating or becoming a sponsor today.

Our goal is to raise $25,000 to provide this vital equipment. All donations and sponsorships are tax-deductible.

You may make a secure online donation at http://projectpawsalive.org/current-fundraisers/gcpdk9/ or checks made payable to "Project Paws Alive" should be mailed to 1911 Grayson Hwy, #8-158, Grayson, GA 30017.