OUR HISTORY
4 Paws Police Foundation was established in 2020 when our founder combined his law enforcement background to address a nationwide working K9 protection gap. Combined with his love of dogs with first-hand law enforcement experience to create 4 Paws for Police Foundation, a nationwide non-profit that provides protective equipment to Law Enforcement, Fire, Search & Rescue and Military K9 units throughout the United States.
Prompted by several law enforcement K9 deaths in one year that could have been prevented if the K9s had been wearing protective ballistic vests on duty, we conducted extensive research and found that almost all first responders do not have the funds or budget approvals to afford such expensive equipment, and in many instances agencies are prohibited from spending budgeted funds to purchase equipment that is “not for use by humans.
Due to budget cuts and other economic issues 92% of all K9 units are run solely on donations. In almost all cases, the handlers must personally pay for their K9 partner’s needs which includes medical, food, grooming, training, yearly certifications, and K9 safety equipment such as K9 protective vests, K9 First Aid Kits, K9 cooling vests, K9 vehicle heat alarms, etc. Most people assume that because the K9 is an officer of the agency that the K9 must be therefore getting all equipment needs to be protected and that the agency pays for all its expenses, which is not true.
K9 Units are typically classified as “non-essential”, “specialty”, or “equipment” units and therefore do not often receive a budget for have the ability to purchase these costly protective equipment. Many agencies cannot accept direct donations from the public, businesses or even private resources.
We see the gaps these K9 Units face and found that is no other nationwide non-profit organization in existence that is working to provide the range of protective K9 equipment of the superior level of quality in protective equipment items these K9s need across the USA.
We believe al Law Enforcement, Fire, Search & Rescue, and Military K9s should be afforded the same lifesaving protection equipment as their human partners. These highly trained K9s dutifully protect and serve us every day and we believe they should be protected in return and shown the love they deserve.
4 Paws for Police Foundation is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization. Donations Are Tax Deductible As Permitted Under IRS Regulations..