Rowe invited members of the Jasper City Council to attend the event during a Dec. 6 meeting of the Council.
“We would absolutely love for all of you and everyone here today — and across the city — to be able to come by and look at some of the changes that we’ve made in the police department that I feel are real positive,” Rowe said.
There will be some restricted areas during the open house, according to Rowe.
Rowe said a “generous gift” of $1,500 from the local law firm King, Wiley & Williams made the upcoming event possible.
“We did not have to expend a dime of any city money or department budgeted money to do this,” Rowe told Council members last week. She added that the donation enabled the police department to purchase a “fabulous” Christmas tree for the lobby of police headquarters located at 1610 Alabama Ave. and pay for catering for Thursday’s event. “We appreciate that firm’s generosity.”
Rowe said the police department also recently received a $1,000 donation from Walmart that will be used within the department for professional development. Specifically, Rowe wants to help some officers improve their writing skills, which they use frequently to write police reports.
“We have some report writing issues that we are working on,” Rowe said.
Rowe plans to have the police department contact with a retired instructor from Bevill State Community College to help Jasper police officers to brush up on their writing skills. Also she said two of her patrol officers who she described as “two of the smartest fellows who work in our department,” Joe Homan and Nick Genton, will be helping their colleagues to become better writers.
“I’ve asked them to pull a copy of all the reports that are being submitted and to go through those and red line them like they were English teachers,” Rowe said.
Rowe added the professional development lessons will also address issues in regard to officers’ courtroom testimony.
Rowe said the Fred’s Store corporation also made a recent contribution to the JPD for more than $200, which she plans to use to purchase a professional camera to be used for collecting evidence and other police business. She said she expects the camera she has in mind to cost about $800.
Also during Rowe’s report to the Jasper City Council Tuesday, she announced that she was recently informed the JPD will receive a grant for new body armor.
“This year, we were awarded $6,375,” Rowe said about the grant that requires a 50-50 match. Previously, the department received $3,125 in grant money for the body armor.
“We have 13 immediate needs for outdated body armor in our department now,” Rowe said.