Bloomfield Township Police Department receives state money for incident command vehicle, drone and more

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — The Bloomfield Township Police Department recently purchased new equipment via an appropriations request made through the office of state Rep. Samantha Steckloff.

“She put in for it, and we were awarded 300,000 total,” Police Chief James Gallagher said. “Just about a little over $50,000 of it went to the Fire Department for new turnout gear, and then $250,000 was awarded to the Police Department,” Gallagher said.

Jason Moon, the communications director for the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, said in an emailed statement that it “was a one-time enhancement grant sponsored by Rep. Samantha Steckloff and administered by the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. The grantee spent the entire $300,000 that was appropriated by the state legislature, and the grant is now closed.”

With the grant money, Gallagher said, they were able to purchase a “wish list of things that increase our response, training.”

The department purchased an incident command vehicle and completely outfitted it. The Police Department has never had an incident command vehicle and has always shared with the Fire Department.

They also purchased a new drone to help in the event of an incident or missing people, and a Utility Task Vehicle that the department can use to respond to critical incidents.

“All this stuff, the purpose is for emergency preparedness,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher said the drone is deployed every day, taken on a patrol car. It has already proven helpful in certain cases — most recently, a bank robbery. Additionally, when the attack on Temple Israel happened, they brought the UTV to be used on the scene.

“We’re excited about it (the new equipment). It just helps us respond to incidents better and more efficiently,” Gallagher said.