Saving pennies for K9 protection
Sarah Bartolitt is a 23-year-old college student from Bridgewater who recently donated a K9 protective body armor vest to the Port Authority Police Department’ s K9 Unit. Bartolitt first grew concerned about police dog safety 13 years ago after reading a story about a police K9 killed in the line of duty in the well-known book series, Chicken Soup for the Soul. The story moved her enough to take action by raising money to donate a protective vest for Port Authority Local 116 K9s.
The story that initiated Bartolitt’ s call to action was written by an 11-year-old girl from California who decided to stand up for K9 protection by creating the Vest a Dog charity fund. The young writer researched and discovered that most law enforcement K9s were not protected by body armor the same way their police officer partners were.
When Bartolitt first read the story in fourth grade, she was inspired to save money to purchase protective body armor for a police K9. From then on, the determined young girl saved birthday gift money, chore allowances and holiday cash with the goal of one day being able to armor a police dog. As she traveled through elementary school, high school and college, Bartolitt kept this goal in mind, even as she ran across incidents that required her to dip into the pool of savings to benefit her family.
Bartolitt reached her objective two years ago when she was able to purchase a Level 2, K9 protective body armor vest manufactured by the International Armor Corporation. The now master’ s student at Boston University went out of her way to research NJ State PBA locals in need of K9 protection. Her aunt, who worked for Chester Township Local 315, was the one who
introduced Bartolitt to Port Authority Police K9 handler Brett Porigow. After Officer Porigow explained the role of Port Authority K9s to detect explosives and weapons in Port Authority facilities, Bartolitt decided that she had found the perfect match for her childhood goal.
Bartolitt was recognized at the Port Authority PBA Executive Board meeting on Nov. 22, 2016, when the Local presented her with a plaque of appreciation for her donation and efforts to protect K9s. Bartolitt’ s vest is now worn by Officer Porigow’ s partner, K9 Nero, and other Port Authority K9s. d
www. njcopsmagazine. com ■ FEBRUARY 2017 59