AULANDER – The Aulander Police Department can thank the member-owners of Roanoke Electric Cooperative for providing the law enforcement officers with a higher level of protection.

Recently, the Aulander Police received a $4,500 grant from Roanoke Electric Care Trust, Inc. Those funds are generated through REC’s Operation Round-Up program that allows member-owners to round up their bills to the next highest dollar each month to help fund community efforts. For example, if their monthly bill is $110.70, it will be rounded up to $111.00. The extra 30 cents will be contributed to the Operation Round-Up program. All contributions to Operation Round-Up are awarded as grants to benefit residents in the co-op’s seven-county service area.

Patrice Jordan, Coordinator of Community Relations/Engagement for Roanoke Electric Cooperative, made the grant presentation at the Aulander Municipal Building.

“We are proud and honored to support the Aulander Police with this grant, which will assist them in protecting and serving the citizens of that town,” Jordan remarked.

“Operation Round-Up is a great program offered through Roanoke Electric Cooperative that offers grant funding to help better all of the communities we serve. We thank our member-owners for their participation in this program,” Jordan added.

“We will use this grant to purchase body armor for the all officers of the Aulander Police Department,” said Jimmy Barmer, Chief of the Aulander PD.

“The grant was written by Aulander Town Commissioner Bobbie Parker and myself and was submitted by our Town Clerk, Rene Benton,” Barmer added.

“I would like to thank the Aulander Commissioners for their continued support of the Police Department,” Barmer noted. “I would also like to thank all the officers of this department for the job they do in keeping the town citizens safe. In return, and thanks to this grant, we as police officers can stay safe while we perform our jobs.”

Barmer stressed that the grant is enough to cover all costs of the body armor. For general patrol duty, a concealable, soft body armor vest for Level II protection ranges in price from $599 to in excess of $1,000 each, not including ballistic plates that are priced as cheap as $75 to over $750 each, depending on the level of protection needed.

“Just to let the citizens and taxpayers of Aulander know that this did not cost them any money at all,” Barmer said. “This was totally funded by the member-owners of Roanoke Electric Cooperative. I would like to thank Roanoke Electric Cooperative for their support, not only to us, but to everyone that receives grants from them through the Operation Round-Up Program.”