Saginaw Police Partner with Saginaw Community Foundation for Canine Program

At Monday night’s City Council meeting, the council voted to approve an agreement with the Saginaw Community Foundation (SCF) for the purposes of handling donations for the city’s police canine program.

Earlier this month the department’s previous nonprofit partners, the Saginaw Valley Police Canine Association (SVPCA), withheld donated funds for a new police canine named Krixus due to concerns over the health of dogs purchased previously from the same vendor. The city went forward with the purchase using general funds, prompting the SVPCA to back out of their arrangement and offer to pass the funds to an eligible nonprofit.

Chief of Police Robert Ruth had positive things to say about the now dissolved partnership, stating, “They [SVPCA] have done a great job for us over the years. They’ve done great with fund raising with us. They’ve worked with us. It was a great partnership.”

The Saginaw Community Foundation will receive the funds from the Saginaw Valley Police Canine Association and continue to handle donations to the program in the future.