Huisking Foundation Donates Equipment To Police Department

Glen Rock Oct 2003:  Through the efforts of the locally based Huisking Foundation and the Glen Rock Policemen’s Benevolent Association, long overdue upgrades were recently completed on the borough’s police vehicles.  The cost to local taxpayers was zero.

The Huisking foundation was originally founded in 1945 in memory of Frank R. Huisking who gave his life as a fighter pilot in Italy during World War II.  Over the years, it has been renamed the Huisking Foundation in memory of additional Huisking Family members for their efforts to promote in the minds of young men and woman a sense of duty and an ardent love for the United States of America.  The main activity of the foundation is to disburse funds to duly accredited organizations whose mission is consistent with the Foundation’s goal.

Early last year Glen Rock resident William “Skip” Huisking and the board of directors of The Huisking Foundation set aside several thousand dollars for what they felt was a worthwhile cause, providing funding that would aid local Police Officers during their day to day duties. The money was donated to the Glen Rock PBA whose members decided what equipment they needed the most and bought it.  Once purchased, the equipment was donated to the Police Department.

Using the generous donation by the Huisking Foundation and pooling it with a donation in memory of long time Glen Rock resident Louis Spata, the PBA has outfitted Glen Rock’s Police Cars with new state of the art emergency lights, hand held patrol lights and portable search and rescue lights for the Department’s four wheel drive emergency truck.

According to Det. Dean Ackermann, PBA President, “Police Officers spend considerable amount of time working in the dark and proper lighting equipment is essential.  Glen Rock Police have been using the same emergency lighting equipment since the late 1980’s and certainly got their money’s worth out of it.  However, twelve to fifteen year old lighting equipment became a problem as we entered the new millennium.  A very tight police budget just did not have enough room to fully fund these upgrades”.  While police have used criminal forfeitures and even traded an old Police Car to augment funding of equipment such as in-car video systems and computers, there was no funding for basic equipment.  “In today’s environment police agencies that do not keep up with technological advances risk going the way of the dinosaur, however, funding issues create a big challenge for municipal budgets which are not accustomed to paying these costs.”

With money provided by private funding and physical labor on the part of P.O. Eric Reamy, PBA Vice President, the upgrades will benefit officers on a daily basis.  “PBA members are grateful for this type of support”, Det. Ackermann noted.  “Groups such as the Huisking Foundation, the Spata Family and the Glen Rock Chamber of Commerce, which routinely raise money to buy bullet proof vests for Glen Rock Police Officers, have really made the difference for us.  Recent events have served to remind all of us that being prepared and properly equipped is not a luxury”

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