The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Transit Police’s K-9 officer Kubo has received a custom designed protective vest thanks to the fundraising efforts of 10-year-old Brady Snakovsky of Strongsville, Ohio.
Snakovsky started the Brady’s K-9 Fund in 2018 with the “mission to donate practical, mission ready vests to as many police K-9s as possible,” he said.
Since then he has raised enough money to vest more than 130 K-9 officers with another 60 on a waiting list.
The vest was donated by MMI Textiles of Westlake and manufactured by Line of Defense in Canada, which makes body armor and tactical gear for military, police, security forces and K-9 applications.
Kubo is Greater Cleveland RTA’s only dual-purpose K-9 officer (bomb and patrol), and was put on Snakovsky’s K-9 Fund waiting list last spring after he met RTA’s K-9 team.
MMI Textiles’ National Account Manager, Geoff Senko, heard of Snakovsky’s K-9 Fund and wanted to get involved. Because Senko’s grandfather, Sgt. Ken Houck, served as a police officer, Kubo’s vest is designed with a special patch in memory of Sgt. Houck.
The vests are custom fit and made of bullet proof, moisture-wicking material and are designed to be worn all day. Vests costs about $1,000 and take about 90 days to manufacture.
