Columbia City Police Officer Travis Bell recently became certified by Axon as a taser instructor. The training was a two-day course taught by Axon in Campbellsville.
While attending the training, Bell met Lt. Ryan Hurtt with University of Kentucky Police Department. What began as a casual conversation among colleagues turned into an equipment donation that would exceed $50,000 if purchased new for the city police department.
“We were just sitting there talking, and we got to talking about how they got a brand new police department built for them,” Bell said. “‘He said we are going through all this stuff, and there’s a bunch of stuff I don’t want to take over.’ He said, ‘I’ve got 40-45 tasers. The X2’s – we went from X2’s to X7’s.”
Bell asked him what they were going to do with the equipment.
“He said, ‘Hopefully we can get rid of them; do y’all need them?’”
Bell said yes, and that’s how the process started.
It took a few steps and approvals, but Columbia’s police department proved that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
University of Kentucky Police Department would have either had to destroy the tasers or box them up and put them in storage.
Chief Evan Burton picked them up Sunday.
“The way it was worded yesterday was they are helping another police agency in the Commonwealth, the state of Kentucky. We are serving and protecting in Columbia and obviously we have students here that go to University of Kentucky also. We take care of one another in the law enforcement field, especially in Kentucky. It’s a good partnership between us and University of Kentucky Police Department,” he said.
If Bell had not have asked about the tasers during their conversation, they would have never received them.
“It was just one of those luck of the draws,” said Bell.
Every officer on the police department is currently issued a taser, but these are an upgraded version that only five officers currently carried. After this donation of surplus tasers, each officer will now carry the same taser.
The tasers are in near perfect condition and include the holsters. Also included in the donation were approximately 100 cartridges and a few batteries.
Not only does this save thousands of dollars for the police department, but it also provides the officers with more updated equipment.
The police department did not have it in their budget to purchase all new tasers. They had gradually been purchasing newer ones as funds were allotted and seeking grant funding for them.
Burton and Bell both expressed their gratitude to the University of Kentucky Police Department for their generosity.
By Amy Pike
amy@adairvoice.com
