The coronavirus has taken a toll on several segments of society, but small police departments are especially vulnerable — officers are embedded in the close-knit communities they're struggling to protect while also trying to protect themselves.
“We can’t say enough about the generosity of the community during these types of times” said Molnar, who added that the donations are also helping the town’s EMS responders, who are in even more need of these items than police officers.
Watervliet, where most of its 10,000 residents live within a square mile of one another, has a police force of 24 officers. The county where it sits already has over 500 coronavirus cases. “The biggest issue is personnel. If I lose 10 guys that's a quarter of my working force,” he said. “We were all in similar situations, so we wanted to make sure we are backing each other up.”
Neighboring officers may not be familiar with the neighborhoods and dynamics of a different town, which may cause some bumps, she said. “This could push them to realize the value of mutual aid agreements and be better set up to do it in the future," she said.Smaller departments in small and rural towns are often deeply entrenched in the communities they serve, so for many of these officers, cutting nonessential interaction has become a new challenge.
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