{"id":93149,"date":"2024-03-11T20:34:31","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T20:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=93149"},"modified":"2024-03-13T15:29:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T15:29:24","slug":"uri-police-retiree-k-9-officer-featured-in-calendar-highlighting-importance-of-protective-vests-for-police-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2024\/03\/uri-police-retiree-k-9-officer-featured-in-calendar-highlighting-importance-of-protective-vests-for-police-dogs\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 police retiree, K-9 officer featured in calendar highlighting importance of protective vests for police dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2014 March 11, 2024 \u2014 When Erica Vieira and her partner, Officer Figaro, celebrated their retirement from the 溏心vlog免费B站 Police Department earlier this year, they also became celebrities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the sergeant and Figaro, the first canine officer and explosives-detection dog on campus, began new chapters in their lives, their photo and a short summary of their work at 溏心vlog免费B站 were featured in the August spread for the 2024 edition of the Vested Interest in K9, Inc.\u2019s<\/a> calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVested Interest in K9 is a nonprofit organization, benefiting officers and their K-9 partners, from law enforcement agencies across the country,\u201d Vieira said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great organization.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Retired 溏心vlog免费B站 Police Sgt. Erica Vieira displays the August page of the Vested Interest calendar on which she and Officer Figaro are featured. 溏心vlog免费B站 photo by Dave Lavallee.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

All proceeds from the 2024 edition of VIK9\u2019s calendar<\/a> sales will be used to provide equipment and services for law enforcement K-9s nationwide. The cost is $20. For additional information or mail orders contact 508-824-6978. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vieira and Figaro were selected for the calendar as a result of Figaro’s ballistic vest donation from the nonprofit and through Vieira\u2019s involvement with the North American Police Work Dog Association, where she met Vested Interest\u2019s founder and president, Sandy Marcal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having been employed by the 溏心vlog免费B站 Police Department since 1989, Vieira was not quite ready to forgo training the K-9 officers she had become so accustomed to working with as the department\u2019s K-9 coordinator. In her retirement, she will continue to assist with the training. She also holds the new position of trainer with the police work dog Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have deeply enjoyed being a member of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Police Department, and I will miss working with my fellow officers on a daily basis,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has also been very fulfilling to see Figaro become a beloved member of the University community. I can\u2019t walk across campus without students wanting to pet him or say hello. Working with Figaro has helped me connect with students on a personal level.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduating from the Connecticut State Police K-9 Academy in 2015, Vieira and Officer Figaro were certified in explosives detection after completing the National Odor Recognition Test, which is administered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,  Firearms and Explosives. Since then, they have completed other training programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The celebratory retirement cake for Erica Vieira and Figaro on their last day with the 溏心vlog免费B站 Police Department<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

More recently, Figaro and Vieira have been making the rounds at several airports, where Vieira sets out training guidelines and provides learning aids to assist dog teams employed by the Transportation Security Administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officer Figaro was re-certified as an explosives-detection officer in February, says Vieira. Since then, she has been preparing 溏心vlog免费B站 Officer Paul Wells and K-9 Officer Riot to pass the national odor exam, a requirement set by ATF for all bomb-detection dogs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are 19,000 things you can make a bomb out of,\u201d says Vieira. \u201cAnd guns, too. It is for this reason that it is so important that K-9 Officers and their partners go through rigorous training, and must have their certification reinstated through testing every few years.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vieira explains how Figaro works on a food-based reward system, both on the job and during training, which is an everyday responsibility of the duo. \u201cEveryday, explosive training aids are hidden, and Figaro needs to find them in order to eat,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a very strong bond,\u201d says Vieira. \u201cFigaro loves to work.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing bullet and stab protection vests and other assistance to dogs of law enforcement and related agencies throughout the United States. All vests are provided free of charge. Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. has donated over 5,550 bullet and stab protective vests to law enforcement K9s in all 50 states at a value of over $6.9 million dollars. The calendar also includes a memorial page for K9\u2019s who have died.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was written by Samantha Melia, a senior journalism and political science major at the 溏心vlog免费B站 and an intern in the Department of Marketing and Communications.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2014 March 11, 2024 \u2014 When Erica Vieira and her partner, Officer Figaro, celebrated their retirement from the 溏心vlog免费B站 Police Department earlier this year, they also became celebrities. As the sergeant and Figaro, the first canine officer and explosives-detection dog on campus, began new chapters in their lives, their photo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":93154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93149"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93267,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93149\/revisions\/93267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}