Lowndes County community helps officers protect k9 partners
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Lowndes County residents are helping the Sheriff’s Office protect its four-legged officers.
At the June 16 Board of Supervisors meeting, Sheriff Eddie Hawkins accepted a donation of just over $18,000 to buy two new ballistic vests for the Sheriff’s Office’s K-9s.
The vests protect the dogs from bullets and knives while they are on the job.
Sheriff Hawkins said the K-9s are important multi-purpose assets for the department, aiding their human counterparts in drug, weapons, and explosives detection, as well as search and rescue, and apprehending suspects.
He said the public stepping up like this is very appreciated.
“These donations are very helpful to the department, because this is something we didn’t budget for this year, for the K-9s, and having this donation on time, and be able to put the vests in use for the K-9s is very vital to the program, and we’re very grateful for the donations we received on this,” said Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins.
The Sheriff’s Office has eight K-9s either in service or in training, and three of ballistic vests.
