The entire Butler City Police Department has been outfitted with new bullet proof vests.
Nineteen vests were purchased for a cost of nearly $18,000.
The city paid the bill thanks to a nearly $9,000 donation from Diehl Automotive Group and a grant of just over $9,000 from the Department of Justice.
“It was an honor and a gift for our family to do this,” owner Corina Diehl said Monday. “It is so important to protect the police. They are our greatest asset.”
Butler City Police Chief Bob O’Neill said it’s donations like this that help him run his department.
“All the vests the officers were using before were becoming outdated- some were hand-me-down,” O’Neill said. “Now, all the officers have brand-new vests, and they came at zero cost to the city.”
O’Neill says the usual life of a police vest is five years.
