Mail Tribune News - Donors may outfit deputies

Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)

1999-10-08

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Donors may outfit deputies Gifts ranging from a 6-year-old pickup truck to $10 in cash have come in so far from private donors chipping in to buy new equipment for deputies the Josephine County Sheriff's Office wants to hire but can't afford to equip, Sheriff Dave Daniels said. Daniels says donations so far include a 1993 Ford truck from Rough and Ready Lumber in Cave Junction, $1,100 from the Illinois Valley Lions Club and a number of smaller gifts. A car dealer has offered the use of a car for two years. The sheriff also said $2,185 in cash has been raised. Daniels' department got a federal grant to hire 10 new deputies as part of President Clinton's plan to put more police officers on American streets. But there's no money in the department's budget for cars, uniforms or other equipment. So the sheriff last month asked for donations to equip new deputies. The department is trying to raise the money to buy 10 sedans or sport utility vehicles, 10 light bars for the cars, 10 radios and 10 sets of uniforms. It costs $550 for one full set of uniforms for each deputy, the sheriff said. A radio costs about $2,200, and a light bar about $1,200. That's $39,500 in addition to 10 cars or SUVs. The sheriff has offered to have donors' names painted on patrol cars. Mail Tribune Copyright �  The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA