GALENA–Thanks to a $3,400 grant from Jo Daviess County Country Fair Charities, the Galena Police Department has equipped its fourth squad car with a video camera, and has two new, updated portable police radios.
"We really want to thank Country Fair Charities for awarding the grant to us," Galena Police Lieutenant William Salzmann said. "We applied for $3,400 and got it. Now all the squads are up to date with in-car video cameras, and we've got a start on replacing our police radios. The ones we're using are about nine years old, and they're definitely due for replacement."
He noted that the new video cameras can take digital pictures as well as video tapes.
New grant program
Salzmann said he applied for the grant after learning that Country Fair Charities now offers a grant program for some types of organizations located within Jo Daviess County. JDC Country Fair Charities is a recently incorporated group which produces the annual JDC Country Fair, and a part of its mission is the distribution of part of the earnings from the fair specifically to organizations within Jo Daviess County.
The grant did not require any matching funds from the city. In fact, the total bill came to $3,402.50, so the new equipment comes at no cost to the city.
Galena Police Chief Jerry Westemeier echoed Salzmann's comments.
"We couldn't have bought this new equipment without the Country Fair Charities grant," he said. "We heard about the grant program from the country fair people–they've always been a good organization to work with and we really appreciate it. Much more of the money from the fair is staying in Jo Daviess County now."
Excerpts and photography courtesy of Galena Gazette.
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