Ahhh, the holiday season begins. To much turkey and not enough sleep. I hope all of you are enjoying this season as much as I am. Some good news to report for the police department this month. We were notified of the status of our COPS grant application and I’m pleased to inform everyone the city of Sandy Police Department was awarded a grant. The award documents have been signed as of now but we are still in the planning phase of this project. The grant itself, $125,000, is for a new officer to be hired by our department. There are, of course, stipulations to the grant award. If the award is excepted by our city, we are responsible the remaining two years of salary for a total of a three year obligation. Of course it is our intent to hire someone and keep them on permanently. The funds the city is responsible for are not in the current budget so I plan to meet soon with the city manager and other city officials to work on this project.

I’d like to thank Sgt. Sean Lundry for dedicating so much of his time with our COPS grant project. He worked diligently on all the federal forms and writing that is required when submitting the grant for consideration. The city of Sandy is one of just a few agencies that received the grant award. I’m very proud of that. Great job Sgt. Lundry.

Lt. Burns had a recent injury that led to him being out for the last couple of weeks. He is recovering and already back at work on a limited basis. The prognosis is good and I’m hoping he will be back to full time within the next two weeks.

I had my first update on Officer Garrett Thornton who is at the police academy for the basic course. He is doing well with all of his studies and training and near the top of his class. Way to go Officer Thornton. We are excited for him to graduate and start his field training here early next year.