Campus police dog gets a protective vest

Odin, the UW-Madison Police Department’s newest K9 officer, has received a bullet- and stab-resistant vest from Wisconsin Vest-A-Dog.

The vest was presented to Odin and his handler Sgt. Brent Plisch at a news conference at police headquarters. The partners have been trained in explosives detection and suspect tracking.

Project Aluminum, founded by Tanya Mordecai of Janesville and her stepdaughter, helped to raise the money for Odin’s vest – the first to be funded by their organization and donated to Wisconsin Vest-A-Dog.

Project Aluminum has partnered with several local businesses, construction companies and law enforcement agencies to collect recyclable metals in the form of cans and various scrap metals. The items are turned over to Alter Metal Recycling of Janesville. The metals are given a value and the money is held in an account for Project Aluminum until enough has been donated to fund a vest.

Wisconsin Vest-a-Dog is a nonprofit organization started by Donna Morgan of Janesville in 2005. It has delivered more than 150 ballistic vests for K9 officers throughout Wisconsin. The organization has vested nearly all of the K9 officers in the Dane and Rock county areas. The cost of each vest is $840.

This is the second vest donated to the UW Police Department. The first went to K9 Rex and his handler Shane Driscoll in April 2010. It was made possible by generous donations from the Juvenile Justice Student Association of Blackhawk Technical College.