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VALLEY — Chambers County’s four law enforcement agencies have each received an ample supply of personal protective equipment or PPE. It is distributed in kits including protective masks and gloves, hand sanitizer, disinfectants. decontaminant foggers and pressure washers. The Chambers County Sheriff’s Office, which has the largest share of responsibility to handle because it has the detention center, got the most kits with four. The county’s largest police departments, Valley and Lanett, each got three kits, and the LaFayette Police Department got two of them.

A total of 450 law enforcement agencies in Alabama were eligible to receive these kits. The PPE was made possible to Alabama law enforcement agencies by a grant from the U.S. Justice Department under the Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding program.

After the Sheriff’s Office was informed in late October that the county’s law enforcement agencies were a possible recipient of some kits, officers representing each department traveled to Montgomery to meet with program manager John Rodgers and his staff at the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA).

“It couldn’t have gone more smoothly,” said Sheriff Sid Lockhart. “The officers representing our local departments made a very good impression on behalf of our citizens.

Having someone from each department there made a difference. I was really proud of that.”

On November 3, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey awarded more than $4 million to state agencies as part of a COVID-19 equipment program.

This PPE was being made available to help ensure the safety of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The governor awarded $585,000 each to the following departments: the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), the Alabama Department of Corrections, the Alabama Department of Youth Services, the Alabama Department of Pardons and Paroles, the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts, the Alabama Office of Prosecution Services and the Alabama Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission.

“Representatives of these agencies, whether they patrol the highways, staff our prisons or guard our courtrooms, put themselves in harm’s way to protect us even without the threat of COVID-19,” Gov. Ivey said. “These funds will provide the resources they require to minimize the threat of being impacted by the ongoing pandemic. I commend their service and want to ensure they have the resources they need to do their already tough jobs safely.”

ADECA, which is administering this grant, has provided protective equipment to many police and sheriff’s departments in Alabama.

“Supplying funds for this equipment will help reduce one less threat for our law enforcement agencies and court systems,” said ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell. “It is something that can be put to good use at any time.”