Southland donation nets new equipment for CCSD Special Reponse Team

Southland donation nets new equipment for CCSD Special Reponse Team

Bulletproof vests, GPS system on the shopping list

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Crittenden County Sheriff’s Department Special Response Team will be getting new bulletproof vests and will equip two prisoner transport vans with GPS thanks to a donation by Southland Gaming and Racing and the City of Clarkedale.

Sheriff Mike Allen told the Quorum Court that they received $10,000 from Southland and $10,000 from Clarkedale to use to buy equipment.

“We are very appreciative SOUTHLAND

of Southland and the City of Clarkedale,” Allen said.

“Without this we couldn’t afford to do this.”

Allen said he plans to buy 15 new bullet proof vesst for the Special Response Team.

The current vests are close to their expiration date and will cost $15,740 to replace.

“All bullet proof vests have a shelf life with an expiration date,” Allen said.

“Eventually the material breaks down after a period of time and they are less effective and they won’t warranty them. They last about five years or something like that. So every so often you have to replace them and the expiration date on these is getting close.”

Allen said he also plans to spent about $3,000 of the donated money to equip two prisoner transport vans with GPS.

“We’ve got vans that do transport in the surrounding states to pick up prisoners,” Allen said. “So we are always going to the Department of Corrections and different locations to pick somebody up or get them to a trial or something. So we are going to put in a GPS system like you have in a car or OnStar so we can track where that vehicle is at.”

Each van has two deputies and having a GPS will improve their safety by allowing the department to know their location, and to monitor their driving when they are on the highway.

“Let’s say they get in to trouble and are overtaken by a prisoner or get in a wreck. This will alert us to their location,” Allen said.

“And it will allow us to monitor the driver too. For example, if you’re in Jackson, Tennessee and see a Crittenden County transport vehicle zoom by you doing 90 miles an hour. I can pull it up on a screen because it comes through the Internet and see how fast he is driving and can have a talk with him when he gets back.”

Allen said they didn’t have the money in the budget to buy the vests this year or the GPS, so the donation is especially timely and will be a huge help to the department.

“This is something that when we did the budget we weren’t looking to replace at this time,” Allen said.

“So thank goodness for this money. We would look pretty silly if we had an officer

that had a vest on and

he thought he was protected and it was expired.

So we are able to get a lot of bang for our buck by buying this equipment.”

In addition to the Southland Foundation, Clarkedale has helped the department buy three dogs in the past. Argo, a drug sniffing dog, Buster, a bomb detection dog, and Hank, a search and rescue and cadaver dog, have all been purchased through money donated by Clarkedale.

“This is some needed stuff that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford,” Allen said. “So we are very grateful.”

By Mark Randall