Weapons, iPads Purchased for White Lake Police and Fire Departments

The White Lake Township Board of Trustees approved purchases for both the Police and Fire Departments at its meeting last month.

The Police Department requested permission to purchase six Colt patrol rifles, six Remington shotguns, six patrol rifle sights, slings and additional magazines as well as ballistic shields for a total of $19,536.52 using drug forfeiture funds. 

Police Chief Edward Harris said in a purchase request that the equipment is needed to ensure officers have the proper weapons and equipment when responding to situations similar to that of Columbine. 

Harris said that since the tragedy in 1999, police around the country - including White Lake officers - are being trained to immediately enter the scene and engage an active shooter instead of merely securing the scene. 

The White Lake Fire Department requested approval to purchase six Apple iPads for an estimated cost of $4,350 to be funded from the Equipment Acquisition line of the fire department's budget.

The iPads would be used for mobile mapping and information retrieval purposes. 

In 2012, the fire department began creating a simple, cost effective mapping system that allowed access to detailed directions, portable address locations and was also expandable to storing other types of property information. 

In addition to mapping, the program also allows to store fire hydrant locations, water flow information, property owner or occupant information and more. 

The department has tested the program using one iPad, and it has been on target with original goals. Additional iPads will allow program to expand to access online information if the department decides to add wireless data in the future. 

The iPads will be distributed and assigned to the department's front line apparatus.