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Helmets and Shields Purchase Back on the Table

Helmets and shields are again being considered for the Door County Sheriff’s Office after Adopt a Soldier of Door County offered to donate $10,000 to pay for the gear.

“We’re not considering this riot gear,” said Nancy Hutchinson, founder and president of the local Adopt a Soldier chapter. “We’re not looking at it that way. We’re looking at it as personal protective equipment.”

Hutchinson, who founded the local chapter of Adopt a Soldier about 12 years ago to support veterans and local soldiers, said the organization had received a private donation that the six-member board then decided to put toward the equipment. The organization is not using funds from its program that sends care packages to local soldiers serving stateside and overseas, she said.

The donation will not be accepted until the Door County Board of Supervisors considers it during its next meeting, July 28, according to Door County Administrator Ken Pabich. But it heads to the board with a recommendation for acceptance from the Door County Public Safety Committee. 

As an oversight committee to the Door County Sheriff’s Office, Public Safety can only accept donations of less than $5,000. That seven-member body met Monday and voted 5-2 to recommend the board accept the donation, with District 4 Supervisor Kara Counard and District 19 Supervisor Bob Bultman casting the dissenting votes.

Bultman said he didn’t agree with sending local officers to help with civil unrest in other communities, which was one of the reasons Door County Sheriff Tammy Sternard gave for needing the equipment. He also talked during the meeting about “institutionalized racism” within this country, and although they were “not going to change institutionalized racism in this room,” he wanted to “be on the right side of history.”

Sternard’s request for the gear last month drew contentious debate between those who believed the equipment was necessary and those who believed the purchase sent an aggressive message during a time of public protests. She again stated her case for the equipment during the Public Safety meeting. She said she had spoken with many people since her last request had been denied, and although she acknowledged the different sides of the issue, she said she “can’t keep discussing this” and that she stood by her request. Though she said she hoped she’d never have to use the equipment, she said the need for it was valid.

“As a community, you trust me as your sheriff, or you don’t,” she said.

She said she did not seek the donation, but if it were not accepted, she’d budget for the equipment in 2021.

“I just want my officers to be safe,” she said. “That’s it. It’s that simple.”

Adopt a Soldier is also prepared to donate money to equip the Sturgeon Bay Police Department, as well as the police officers in Gibraltar and on Washington Island. The organization sent letters to those departments June 29 but had not heard back as of Monday. 

“I have no interest in the shield, the body shield. Maybe the next chief will. But I do have a strong interest in issuing every officer a ballistic helmet.”

Sturgeon Bay Police Chief Arleigh Porter

“We expect we will accept it,” said Sturgeon Bay Police Chief Arleigh Porter on Monday.

Porter said the Sturgeon Bay department has about eight ballistic helmets that it purchased a few years ago to protect officers in the event of an active-shooter situation. The department would need around 14 additional helmets, Porter estimated. The officers have ballistic vests, so Porter said he expected the department would buy only the helmets. 

“I have no interest in the shield, the body shield,” he said. “Maybe the next chief will. But I do have a strong interest in issuing every officer a ballistic helmet.”