Daniel Prince
Senator Shane Martin helped the town secure the grants
In more news from Tuesday’s Jonesville Town Council meeting, Police Chief Carl Jennings informed council that after more than a year, they have received all four vehicles that were requested. Senator Shane Martin helped the town acquire the grant money for the vehicles, two of which are still waiting to be outfitted. Jennings said the department will push to fill the vacant patrol slot and acquire new body armor and body-worn cameras through a grant coming out in March. He said they are also going to apply for a federal grant to enable them to hire another officer on staff to allow more coverage during peak hours. Administrator Michael Tyler stated some questions arose about whether the other officer should be driving a marked or an unmarked vehicle in town. Jennings said that Officer Lee is a training officer and is supposed to be attached to a drug task force with the city and county that will allow the Town of Jonesville to receive a share of seized money from drug arrests. Jennings said being part of the narcotics task force requires Officer Lee to be in an unmarked vehicle. He also said being in an unmarked vehicle makes it safer for him in other places that may not appreciate a police presence. Jennings said state law mandates that a department cannot have more unmarked cars than marked cars, so the plan is to have two of the new vehicles to be marked and two to remain unmarked, and Jennings and Lee can use either as the need arises, using the marked vehicles for visibility around town and using the unmarked for other situations where there is a need to be covert. The town’s existing police vehicles will be put up for sale after being stripped down. Tyler said he hopes to have a sealed bid sale of those six vehicles and perhaps a couple of trucks from the water department, as well. We’ll have even more from the meeting tomorrow.