Grady County Residents Raise Funds To Buy Equipments For Deputies

Some deputies are working without the standard equipment needed to do their jobs. Now, one community south of the metro pulls together thousands of dollars to help keep their streets safe.

Deputies have paid out of pocket just to have uniforms to wear to work and ammunition for protection. Until now, when hundreds of Grady County residents decided to change that with a fundraiser.

Grady County Sheriff Jim Weir and his deputies received more than $11,000 in donation,

"It's going to motivate them to go out there and work even harder," said J.J. Francais.

Francais is one of 600 residents who participated in the fundraiser that is now providing money to purchase new uniforms, ammunition, and finger print kits.

"As a member of this community you should feel you want to make an investment into the community and public safety should be number 1," he said.

Sheriff Jim Weir explained that when he took office, he was without the basic supplies for 14 full-time deputies that's when he looked at private funding to help subsidize the budget.

"The equipment has not been repaired and there were items missing that we had to replace right away and that took a lot of budget that was left," the sheriff said.

The sheriff says with 1200 square miles in the county, fuel for the patrol cars also takes up a lot of the budget. But the donation from the community shows everyone is invested in public safety.

"They realize in this day and age the safety of the community is important and that's what the sheriff's office provides along with other municipalities," Sheriff Weir said.

The sheriff says the donations will also go toward cameras to help deputies with investigations on scenes.