Wilmer’s K9 team has more than a decade of police experience

WILMER - Anyone who has a four-legged friend knows the importance of bonding handler and dog.

This becomes increasingly important when the handler and dog are in situations where lives can be on the line.

In the City of Wilmer, that is the case with the police department team of Officer Ryan Sawyer and his four-legged partner Mac, a three-year-old Dutch Shepperd from Holland.

Sawyer has been with the Wilmer PD for over 12 years, and Mac came to join about a year ago.

Mac has been trained in drug detection, apprehension and patrol work.

He works alongside Officer Sawyer, who has 146 hours of drug interdiction and drug dog detection training.

Mac was purchased by the Wilmer Police Department through Hill Country Dog Center in Pipe Creek, Texas and has only worked with the Wilmer PD during his law enforcement career.

“Officer Sawyer is well-known and well respected in the community, and most citizens and friends refer to him as Officer “Red,” said Wilmer Police Department Chief Victor Kemp. “Mac was an important addition to the team as well.”

To enhance the team further, recently the Wilmer Police Department received a donation of body armor for Mac.

This body armor includes a bullet and stab protective vest, and was made possible due to a charitable donation from the non-profit organization Vested Interest in K9s, Inc.

“We appreciate organizations such as Vested Interest in K9s, Inc., for their help and participation in making sure our Officer Mac is safe,” said Kemp.

The vest was sponsored by Austin Clark of Weatherford, and embroidered with the sentiment “Honoring those who served and sacrificed.”

The program is open to dogs actively employed in the U.S. with law enforcement or related agencies who are certified and at least 20-months of age.

New K9 graduates, as well as K9s with expired vests, are eligible to participate.

The donation for one protective vest for a law enforcement K9 is $950. Each vest has a value between $1,744 and $2,283, with a five-year warranty.

There are an estimated 30,000 law enforcement K9s throughout the United States.

Vested Interest in K9s, Inc., is a 501c(3) charity located in East Taunton, Massachusetts whose mission is to provide bullet and stab protective vests and other assistance to dogs of law enforcement and related agencies throughout the United States. The non-profit was established in 2009 to assist law enforcement agencies with this potentially lifesaving body armor for their four-legged K9 officers.