The Falmouth Police Department has received an anonymous donation of $300,000 to be used towards the cost of new Tasers and body cameras for officers and dashboard cameras for the fleet.
“The donor was adamant that he wanted to support this program,” Police Chief John Kilbride said at the April 11 council meeting where the donation was accepted. “He was happy and coherent and excited at this part of his life that he could be in this position, not only for this particular project, but other projects within the community and outside the community.”
In his 30 years at the department, Kilbride said, he has “never witnessed this form of generosity.”
Kilbride received a phone call from Bath Savings Institution informing him that one of their customers had made a donation to the department, he said. The department then ensured the donor has no ulterior motive for donating, he said.
The department had budgeted $58,000 for fiscal year 2023, the first year of a five-year, $289,000 contract for new Tasers, body cameras and dashboard cameras. Pending a vote by the council on the contract April 25, all 23 officers will be outfitted with new Tasers and body cameras, and the fleet of eight patrol vehicles will have dashboard cameras.
Kilbride said the remaining amount will help with the cost of setting up the information technology needed, installing charging stations and incidentals.
The donation “takes a considerable amount of the strain off of other items within the budget,” he said, but he did not provide specifics.
“The opportunity to have this equipment allows this agency to enhance our trust, support our criminal cases, and fall in line with a modern-day law enforcement agency,” Kilbride told The Forecaster.
“It was a pleasure to meet the donor and hear the compassion behind this gift, and many others within and outside of this community. Truly an impressive human being,” he said.
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