DOGGED PERSISTENCE GIRL, 11, SUCCEEDS IN MISSION TO BUY BULLETPROOF VEST FOR SQUAD'S CANINE COP.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

There's a great story behind the little lemonade stand 11-year-old Jordyn Carey sets up in front of her grandparent's Griswold Avenue home in San Fernando every Fourth of July.

It goes back to a night four years ago, a few days before the Fourth, when Jordyn and her grandfather, Vince Garcia, were sitting in the living room watching the local nightly news on TV together.

``She had recently lost one of her dogs, who had been hit by a car, and was feeling pretty sad,'' Vince said. ``The story on TV was about police K-9 dogs being involved in a raid in Los Angeles.

``I had been a reserve officer on the San Fernando Police Department for five years, so Jordyn had seen me putting on a bulletproof vest before going on duty.

``That night she asked me if our K-9 police dog wore a protective vest, too, when he went out on a call,'' Vince said. ``I told her I didn't think so.''

The next morning Jordyn was in her grandparents' garage making a sign to put on the little lemonade stand that hundreds of local residents walked by every Fourth to attend festivities in a nearby park.

It said she was selling lemonade to buy the San Fernando Police Department's only K-9 dog a protective vest like the officers wore, so drink up.

And people did.

Officer Danny Carrillo put down the phone in the police station last week and smiled. Some days on the job are just better than others, and this was definitely going to be one of those better days.

A woman named Sandra Garcia had just called asking him how much it would cost to buy a bulletproof vest for his K-9 dog, King.

``I called our whole shift together and told them, you're not going to believe this, but there's a little girl who has raised $350 selling lemonade to buy King a bulletproof vest,'' said Carrillo, King's handler.

``Everybody just smiled and shook their heads. The whole shift wanted to go over and meet her, so we did. We all took pictures with Jordyn and King.

``For this little girl to take on a project like that for us, well, it has to make you feel pretty good,'' Carrillo said.

It made San Fernando police Chief Anthony Alba feel pretty good, too. ``It's a great, heartwarming story, particularly at this time when we've seen such terrible things, like people losing their homes in the fires,'' Alba said.

``What's so personally gratifying for us is to see a young person in our community like Jordyn care enough and take the time to do something wonderful for our department,'' he said.

After Alba heard what Jordyn had done, he called Tony Torres, president of the San Fernando Police Advisory Board, to tell him. The board voted unanimously to kick in the rest of the money to buy King the $800 bulletproof vest.

Carrillo stopped by the Garcia's home again Saturday morning after his graveyard shift was over to say thank you one more time to Jordyn and her grandparents.

While King and Jordyn's own 3-year-old German shepherd, Riley, played in the back yard, the officer and the little girl talked.

``I just wanted him to be safe,'' she said, pouring Carrillo a glass of lemonade.

Yeah, some days on the job are just better than others, and the day the San Fernando Police Department met 11-year-old Jordyn Carey was definitely one of those better days.

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) Lemonade-stand fund-raiser Jordyn Carey, 11, gets a warm hello from police dog King, partner of Officer Danny Carrillo.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer