The Montgomery County Commission approved a resolution for the county to participate in the state’s Blue Shield program, which honors local governments that show a strong commitment to public safety, crime reduction and a support for law enforcement.

Sheriff Craig Allison presented the resolution to the commissioners in a March 9 meeting, requesting their consideration of having the county join the Blue Shield program. The commissioners signed and approved it that same day.
Allison said the program is based on the executive order Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe established last year, which is Executive Order 25-03.

“Several agencies did it last year and by the time I got around to doing it, it was too late,” Allison said. “This year, I said I was going to get it done. You have to have all of your stuff turned in. There’s a big long list of stuff that you have to have done and get it all turned in to them before June 1 because June 1 is when they announce what the funding is going to be. We haven’t decided what we were going to use the funding for.”

There are requirements that need to be met for a local government to become a Missouri Blue Shield community. The local government should make extraordinary investments in public safety in the last five years, should partner with local stakeholders in a joint effort to invest in and/or improve public safety, should demonstrate effectiveness in reducing crime or create programs that attempt to reduce crime and should have a summary of their law enforcement agencies’ accomplishments and goals.

Also, law enforcement agencies should participate in regional anti-crime task forces, be committed to proactive policing practices and have a police officer recruitment and retention program.

The Blue Shield program is in its second year. So far, there are 110 communities and 32 counties that are in the program this year. Montgomery County’s neighboring county, Gasconade, is in the program.

Communities receiving the Blue Shield designation may become eligible for additional state grant funding to support law enforcement training, equipment and technology. Last year, more than 200 communities earned the Blue Shield designation and were later awarded state grants of $50,000 each.

“I think there were five counties that got the designation last year,” Allison said. “I didn’t try to apply for it. By the time we got word, we had a lot going on and there wasn’t time to get it done. So there weren’t that many cities or counties that really got on board last year. This year, I think you will see a lot of counties and cities coming on board and doing it.”

Allison said as of March 17, he submitted all of the required documentation and the county is waiting for approval. He also said Gov. Kehoe set aside 10 million dollars for the program and they will be split among the cities and counties that receive the Blue Shield designation.

“There was a lot of documentation that we had to send them,” Allison said. “It might be a good thing. Any little bit helps. It’s $50,000 that would buy us a car or something. What I would be shooting for is maybe a patrol vehicle. Right now, the cost of a patrol vehicle is expensive. We have roughly $56,000 in each car. The patrol division is growing. Our fleet right now is 32 vehicles.”