LA VERGNE, Tenn. - A bit of good luck for a La Vergne Police lieutenant has turned into potentially lifesaving protection for a police K9 about an hour away in Tullahoma.

La Vergne Police Lt. Eric Staats won the opportunity to provide a ballistic vest to a police K9 last year while attending the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference after being named LPD’s Supervisor of the Year. There was just one problem - every K9 at the La Vergne Police Department already had a vest.

The prize, provided through Spike’s K9 Fund and Tyler Technologies, was not simply a vest that could be pulled off a shelf and handed to another department. Each ballistic vest is fitted and manufactured specifically for the K9 that will wear it, meaning Staats first had to find a police dog that needed the protection.

“Winning the vest was simply a matter of luck,” Staats said. “Being able to give it to a K9 team that needed it is what makes winning it meaningful.”

Staats turned to Sgt. Lee Young, a K9 instructor with the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office who trains with K9 teams throughout the region. Staats explained that he had won a vest and wanted it to go to a K9 that needed one. That search eventually led to Monja, a 2½-year-old Dutch shepherd and then-recent addition to the Tullahoma Police Department.

Monja received his custom-fitted vest this summer. On Sept. 30, the approximately 60-pound K9 and his handler, Sgt. Travis Dickson, made the roughly hour-long trip to La Vergne to thank Staats in person and demonstrate how well Monja had adjusted to working in his new protective gear. Monja, a dual-purpose K9 trained in apprehension, tracking and drug detection, also managed to work a back scratch from Staats into the visit.

“It’s a big confidence boost to us, to my guys, knowing that if we do have to send him into a dangerous situation, he’s got that little bit of extra protection,” Dickson, who is also a night-shift supervisor, said. “Our community helped fund a vest for our other K9, but there’s no way we could have afforded this vest on our own.”

For Dickson, the importance of protecting his four-legged partner is also personal. He noted that Monja’s vest serves much the same purpose as the protective equipment worn by officers.

“I have to put it on every day when I go to work. I’ve got a wife and a little kid I want to come home to every day,” Dickson said. “I want him to come home too.”

Monja does just that, going home with Dickson after each shift. Although Dickson only recently became Monja’s handler, he said his K9 partner has already become part of the family.

The story also highlights the cooperation among law enforcement K9 teams across Middle Tennessee. Dickson said he and Monja train for a minimum of 16 hours each month alongside other K9 teams. La Vergne and Tullahoma handlers have traveled to each other’s departments for training, while Dickson also identified Murfreesboro, Rutherford County and Franklin County among the agencies they train with.

That regional K9 community is tight-knit, with handlers and agencies frequently supporting one another - the same network Staats turned to when he found himself with a valuable prize and no La Vergne K9 that needed it. What began with a little luck at a police conference ultimately ended with Monja receiving an added layer of protection when he heads to work.