MARTINSVILLE, Va. – The Martinsville Police Department is showing off the bulletproof vests the department's K-9s wear.
Chase and Tonka have been wearing their vests for about a year, but because of the work the dogs do, the department has only just now publicized the vests.
A nonprofit organization called Spikes K9 Fund donated the vests.
Chase and Tonka's handlers say the vests give them peace of mind.
"(The vest) makes (my job) a whole lot more comfortable, knowing that this dog that I've become attached to, that's part of my team here at work and part of my family at home, that he's protected as well as I'm protected," Chase's handler, Sgt. Joe Washburn, said.
"Having his vest on at work gives me that extra confidence that if something was to happen, he's protected just like I am," Tonka's handler, Sgt. Mark Peters, said.
Washburn and Peters say the vests can stop most handgun rounds and some rifle rounds.