K9s For Warriors honored for its help combating veteran and law enforcement suicide

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The local nonprofit K9s For Warriors is being honored for its help with ending veteran and law enforcement suicide.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody presented them with the Back the Blue Award, and thanked them for their service in helping law enforcement and veterans.

Patty Dodson knows firsthand the stress, anxiety and pressure not only veterans face, but law enforcement too.

In fact, she said more police officers die from suicide than they do in the line of duty.

It happened to her husband, Corporal Andy Lavendar.

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“He was a Jax Beach Police Officer and he served for 29 years. He also was a U.S. Navy veteran and saw some of those horrors, and unfortunately Andy took his life in 2019, and it had just a resounding impact on this community in so many ways,” Dodson said.

Dodson is the chief of staff for K9s for Warriors.

After losing her husband, she wants to make sure suicide doesn’t claim the life of another officer or dispatcher, with their K9s for Warriors’ station dogs program

C4 is a station dog at the Atlantic Beach Police Department, and she helps a lot of the officers there decompress and destress.

“She knows when you’re having a bad day, when I’m in my office and I’m having a stressful day. She’s come in just to say hello. For no other reason just to pet her and lick my face, and then she’s off to somebody else,” Victor Gualillo, Atlantic Beach Police Chief said.

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In addition to the award, the Jacksonville sheriff’s officer received a station dog named Buster.

The yellow lab will help officers and dispatchers who may be feeling depression or anxiety.

“They love working, they love serving, you know, not just their warriors, but these law enforcement officers, so it really warms our heart,” Dodson said.

Buster is the eighth station dog to be given to a law enforcement agency in Florida. K9s for warriors says they have at least 11 other agencies on a waiting list right now.

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