The East Hartford Rotary Club donated $3,200 to the town’s Police Department to purchase four “active shooter kits” for school resource officers assigned to East Hartford High School and East Hartford Middle School. The donation, which was made on the December anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting, is being used to prepare each of the school’s four officers in the unlikely event of a school shooting there. Each of the kits contains a plated ballistic vest and Kevlar helmet, and additional extension gear for use by a school resource officer if needed. Each kit would normally cost the department $800. The EHPD reached out to the Rotary Club for assistance knowing that the request for these kits would have to wait an additional budget year before it might be filled by the Town. The Board Members gave their full support to the decision to fund this important request to assist the people who risk their lives daily in service to our community.
 
President Bill Saunders presented the check to Chief of Police Scott Sansom; many members of the club’s Board of Directors and Mayor LeClerc were also on hand for the check presentation.  Chief Scott Sansom said of the resource officers, “They are in the schools nurturing relationships, teaching, and working with kids in programs. But they are also armed police officers.” While everyone hopes these kits will never need to be used, they will be stored at the schools in case they are needed during an emergency situation.