When word spread of Casper's plight - the Labrador retriever was being cared for by Anne Arundel County police after being found with its throat slashed - offers of financial help came pouring in.

The Police Department's Animal Control Section doesn't accept cash donations, so the Anne Arundel County Police Foundation stepped forward.

"People wanted to send money in," said Lt. James Richey of the Animal Control Section. "So the police foundation agreed to oversee the money, and they took up some of the bills for Casper."

The foundation has helped pay for equipment, training and an annual banquet for the department since it was formed in 1992. It accepts donations from the community and raises money through an annual spring golf tournament, membership dues and sales of toy-size replicas of county police cars for $10.

Three years ago, Casper's story generated at least $3,700 in donations, Richey said. The dog had been found injured behind a Millersville home and was treated for shock and blood loss. A man was sentenced to three years in prison in the case.

Since 2005, the foundation has raised $11,000, said Joseph Conte, vice president of the foundation and co-owner of an Annapolis construction company. During the late 1990s, it annually listed assets of about $16,000, according to filings with the Internal Revenue Service.

In recent years the foundation has helped pay for emergency lights and sirens for the department's bike unit, new bulletproof vests for the dogs in the canine unit and microchips that the Animal Control Section uses to identify dogs and their owners.

The foundation seeks to strengthen ties between the public and the police department, Conte said.

"When there's a higher quality of police service, there's a stronger relationship between the community and the department," he said. "And the more you do for the department, the better they're going to be."

Conte co-founded the foundation in 1992 after Robert Russell, then the county's police chief, told him that a foundation would help the department.

"I was friends with the chief anyway, and we played golf, so I got involved with it," Conte said.

Baltimore has a police foundation, as do Baltimore, Howard and Montgomery counties.

The New York City Police Foundation, described as the first organization of its kind in the country, was founded in 1971, said its president, Pamela Delaney. The purpose of a police foundation is to help a department try new things, she said.

"When the NYPD was considering establishing a bike patrol in the 1990s, we were able to buy the first bikes to see if in fact it would work or not," Delaney said. "After we tried it, the city began formally buying the bikes for the department."

A police foundation can help a department that needs quick funding for a non-emergency purpose, said Larry Harmel, executive director of the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association.

"These times are lean and mean, and sometimes it's hard to get certain budgeted items out there," Harmel said. "If a department wants computers in all their cars soon, here's an avenue where you may be able to get the funding. It's never meant to circumvent the general budget, but it helps speed things up a bit."

The police foundation in Anne Arundel helps pay for the department's annual banquet, which costs $4,000 to $5,000, to recognize outstanding service and citizenship.

It takes donations for the Animal Control Section through the Casper Fund, which is named for the injured dog.