LOS ANGELES — The call ended the way no handler ever expects.
Jack, a Belgian Malinois with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Enforcement Bureau, was killed during a standoff with a barricaded suspect in Gardena. It happened in December 2022, but for Deputy Stephen Williams, the loss still sits close, KABC reports.
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Jack stayed in the fight, Williams said — long enough for deputies to protect themselves.
In the aftermath, one reality stood out: Jack wasn’t wearing ballistic protection. Not because his handler didn’t want it, but because the options available at the time often slowed dogs down or limited their movement during high-risk operations, according to KABC.
That gap caught the attention of Jon Becker, CEO of Aardvark Tactical, a La Verne-based company known for designing protective equipment for first responders. Becker had spent his career focused on outfitting human officers, but Jack’s death pushed him to think differently.
Protecting K-9s, Becker realized, required an entirely new approach.
What started as a conversation with Williams about loss and lessons learned turned into a yearlong development process aimed at solving one specific problem: how to protect the areas where police dogs are most often injured — the upper chest and neck — without compromising speed or agility, KABC reports.
Those concerns became even more personal when Williams’ next partner, K-9 Kid, was shot during another line-of-duty incident. Kid survived, thanks in part to a ballistic vest he was wearing, but the incident reinforced how much more could be done.
From there, Becker and his team began working directly with K-9 handlers, gathering feedback from roughly 30 units, including LASD’s Special Enforcement Bureau. Designs were tested, adjusted and tested again, with handlers weighing in on everything from fit to flexibility.
The final result is a modular ballistic vest that includes an optional protective collar — equipment that can be added or removed based on the threat level of a mission.
For Williams, the advancement goes beyond gear improvements.
“It’s just like any other partner we have,” he said. “My dog, Jack, gave his life to protect us, and it’s tough to lose a dog.”
The vest’s rollout comes as agencies across Southern California mourn the recent loss of Burbank Police K-9 Spike, another reminder of the risks working K-9s face alongside their handlers.
Each vest produced by Aardvark Tactical carries Jack’s name and end-of-watch date — a quiet tribute etched into equipment designed to help prevent other handlers from experiencing the same loss.
