WLKM Radio 95.9 FM
A Kalamazoo County police dog is getting a protective vest in memory of a fallen police officer.
The Officer Collin Rose Memorial Foundation and Massachusetts-based nonprofit Vested Interest Inc. are sponsoring the vest for Roseco. The German Shepard’s vest will include a note remembering Wayne State University Sgt. Collin Rose. The Kalamazoo native was killed in 2016 in Detroit.
Friends and family created the foundation about a year ago as a way to keep Rose’s memory alive, said Chris Powell, the foundation’s president.
“We miss Collin and we’re glad that more working dogs can be saved,” Powell said. “It’s just a matter of sharing Collin’s story and working our way through grief.”
The group sponsors protective equipment for police dogs, has created a scholarship in Rose’s name and supports people who have lost companions in the line of duty.
“We’re trying to do good in his name,” Powell said. “It’s terrible how we lost him, but the fact that we’ve been able to do as much as we have in a short time has been pretty remarkable and speaks to the kind of person we lost.”
Roseco works for the Kalamazoo County sheriff’s office. The organization will next help Wayne State Officer Greg Roberts and his German Shepherd Bruno, who’s trained to sniff for illegal drugs.
The Oakland County sheriff’s office recently donated Bruno to Wayne State in Rose’s memory.
“I see this as really showing how much people appreciate what we do, and are focused on remembering what Collin stood for,” Roberts said. (AP)
