ANONYMOUS DONOR OFFERING ARMOURED POLICE DOG VESTS

An anonymous corporate donor is offering to equip some canine members of Toronto’s police force with armoured vests designed to protect them from sharp weapons. The Toronto Police Services Board is to consider the offer of 18 vests at its meeting on Thursday. The donor came forward after Lonca, a canine with the force, was seriously injured last year by a suspect armed with a machete. The force’s canine unit has 33 dogs. Saunders says the donor has ordered the vests — designed to protect a dog’s major internal organs if attacked with a sharp or blunt object — from Line of Fire Defence Systems in Edmonton at a total cost of more than $22,000. The company developed the vest after an Edmonton police dog was fatally stabbed in 2013. The RCMP, Edmonton police and Durham police use the vests.