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February 19, 2009
Jean Cole-Reporter
The Athens News Courier
Sheriff Mike Blakely can already see the uses for the cargo trailer, generator, all-terrain wagon and portable floodlight set his department received Thursday with its share of a Homeland Security grant.
“We can use the trailer as a mobile command post at crime scenes, when we are looking for missing persons or at large events like the Tanner Tractor Pull,” the sheriff said. “We can use the Gator to find missing or lost people, recover stolen property, patrol parking lots along the Rails-to-Trails or for other purposes.”
Chief Patrol Officer Capt. Fred Sloss said the trailer could also be used as a command center in the aftermath of tornadoes or other damaging storms.
Blakely, Sloss and Chief Deputy Randy King were outside the Sheriff’s Department Thursday afternoon kicking the tires of the new equipment, which includes:
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A large, air-conditioned cargo trailer with a generator
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A John Deere “Gator” all-terrain vehicle with small truck bed, big tires and glass cab
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A portable floodlight set
Limestone County and nine other members of the Region 6 Law Enforcement Team, which includes Morgan, Madison, Lawrence, Cullman, Blount, Cherokee, DeKalb, Jackson and Marshall counties, received the equipment through a fiscal 2007 Homeland Security grant.
The Region 6 team responds to disasters in their area as well as surrounding counties and throughout the state.
Alabama Homeland Security Director Jim Walker distributed the new equipment during a 10 a.m. press conference at the Madison County Sheriff’s Department in Huntsville.
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