The Pella Area Community and Economic Alliance made a donation to the Pella Police Department with proceeds from their annual golf outing.
Tim Te Grootenhuis with the PACE Alliance tells KNIA/KRLS News those who attended the golf outing and police officers helped raise $4000 for the department.
“The Committee not only wanted a fun networking event with lots of engagement from members, but also to contribute to the safety of our businesses, employees and residents. Pella Police Officers face many unknowns when responding to calls, having the proper equipment to train – especially for high pressure situations such as hostage or active shooter – has unfortunately become a necessity for every department. We wanted to do our part to provide funds for specialized equipment to train for these situations.” said Te Grootenhuis.
Pella Police Chief Robert Bokinsky explains that the Simunition equipment is a non-lethal force-on-force, short range, simulation training system, aimed to recreate active shooter threats.
“This Simunitions training system is described as force-on-force training, so instead of going to the firearms range, where it’s a very calm atmosphere and you’re trying to relax and concentrate on your fine motor skills, Simunitions is more realistic because now you have a target who is moving, firing back at you, and when you’re hit, there’s a price that you pay–it’s a little bit painful and could potentially leave a mark, but no injuries, but you don’t want to get hit.”
“It heightens the stress level and it causes the officer to perform under pressure.”
Over the last two years, the PACE Alliance has made donations to the Pella Fire Department and Pella PD, with last year’s donation of $2600 providing portable multi-gas alert monitors.