PICS AND ARTICLES

LEEP helps transfer used police equipment for our Armed Forces to be distributed to overseas security. However we have had so many requests from American law enforcement agencies that need equipment, we have decided to give them a place to post their needs on this site. Agencies with a surplus can send to America agencies or our Armed Forces.

Article courtesy of The Daily Nonpareil

MAY 2011

Law enforcement officials not only protect citizens on the streets, but also serve in numerous other capacities.

Whether it is shopping with an underprivileged child for a Christmas present or jumping in freezing water for Special Olympics athletes, deputies, police officers and state troopers give freely of their time and talents.

Council Bluffs Police Officer Greg Becker recently collected old, narrow-banded radios that were not being used to send to border patrol and police officers in Afghanistan.

Becker said when the War on Terror started, U.S. military personnel began to ask for old law enforcement communications equipment for the fledging Afghanistan forces through law enforcement publications.

Through Silver Star Families – a group dedicated to honoring and assisting wounded, injured and ill service members – Becker made contact with Major John Ruckauf.

Ruckauf said in April that the Afghans the military is partnered with didn’t have any communications except cellphones, and the cellphone coverage is very inconsistent too.

Becker knew that the new Pottawattamie County communications system made several older radios obsolete, so he contacted the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office and the Council Bluffs Fire Department.

Becker received 17 radios from the sheriff’s office and six more radios from the fire department, along with batteries, charges and related equipment.

By now, the radios are hopefully in the hands of those who needed them.

“It might sound corny, but the quicker we get Afghans to be self-sufficient, the quicker our guys can come home, and that’s the whole purpose,” Becker said.

He is still checking on finding more radios to send, and he has already paid the postage out of his pocket for two shipments.

“It is the least I can do,” he said.

More officers joined in philanthropy in March as a group of more than 100 people braved the brisk waters of Lake Manawa in March for the fifth annual Council Bluffs Polar Plunge.

Plungers donned bathrobes and shower caps, hula skirts, pink shoes, bikinis and bath caps. Male members of the Salty Dog bar team wore women’s bathing suits, while the “House Divided” team featured divers in Iowa Hawkeye and Nebraska Cornhusker gear.

Council Bluffs Police Sgt. Jason Bailey, who falls on the Husker side of the divide, said the plunge was refreshing, but cold.

“Wakes a guy up,” he said. “It’s a great cause, so it’s worth a few minutes of misery to help people in need.”

Proceeds from the event benefit Special Olympics Iowa, which provides sports training to nearly 11,000 Iowans with intellectual disabilities.

Last year about $15,000 was raised, according to organizer John Focht, and Iowa State Patrol Trooper Jason Bardsley said a final tally this year will top last year’s.

Focht, a Council Bluffs police officer, said his department and the Iowa State Patrol worked together, along with Special Olympics Iowa, to plan the event.

A cousin with Down syndrome helped bring greater meaning for the event to Officer Troy McIntosh, who plunged with the Council Bluffs Police Department “Frozen Bacon Five” team.

“People often don’t see and think of people with special needs,” he said. “But as officers, we see them all the time and they deserve everyone’s support.

“It’s good to see Council Bluffs come together for this event.”

Chad Nation

News Editor

The Daily Nonpareil

All,

Thank you all so much for the incredible amount of support that you have given not only us, but the Afghan National Police! We have been really busy lately and are making great strides, but still have a long way to go. We continue to work hard every day with the ANP on their basic skills- we have been training on everything you can think of: traffic control points, vehicle and personnel search techniques, first aid, values, right to life, and SO MUCH MORE. We have really enjoyed the opportunity to work with t hem an d take personal pride in the fact that they are improving every day. I have attached some photos of our heroes and also theirs.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 29, 2008 - Afghan National Police officers are getting help rebuilding from U.S and other countries' troops, but they're also getting a boost from friends they may never meet.

Air Force Master Sgt. Buffie Verhagen (far left) and a member of her Police Technical Advisory Team (center) pose with Afghan National Police officers. The Afghan officers are wearing equipment donated through the Missouri-based Law Enforcement Equipment Program.

Steve Newton started the Law Enforcement Equipment Program as a way to provide used gear or American armed forces units to use in training or equipping friendly foreign police forces. The program accepts donations of used equipment from U.S. law enforcement departments and helps get it overseas.

"We simply act as a go-between for the American law enforcement community and the military," Newton said of the organization, more commonly known as "LEEP."

Fulfilling its mission requires help on the other side of the world, however, and that's where Air Force Master Sgt. Buffie C. Verhagen comes in.

Since she's serving as a police mentor and trainer on a provincial reconstruction team, she checked out the LEEP Web site after her father, a retired Houston police officer, told her about it. She let Newton know about her work with the Afghan police officers and has been receiving equipment through the program for about a year.

The equipment is particularly welcome, too.

"The overall condition of the Afghan National Police was, and is, still in poor condition, although strides have been made toward improvements, especially with training," Verhagen said. "Any gear, including cold-weather items, or any item related to law enforcement can be used."

LEEP has stepped up, providing pistol holsters, handcuff cases, ammunition holders and tactical vests, she said. While those donated items fill a tangible void, they also work to foster trust and respect between the Afghan National Police and coalition forces.

"We tell the (Afghan National Police) that the equipment was donated from police officers in the U.S. specifically for them," Verhagen said. "This shows our commitment to their development and really shows how the U.S. as a whole is working to provide assistance."

It also tightens a bond that spans geographic boundaries. Despite the differences between American and Afghan societies, the police officers share a common bond, V erhagen said.

Verhagen, who will be returning home soon, is grateful for LEEP and what it provided her, her team and the Afghan police officers who received the equipment.

"(It's) great in that it builds relationships with a specific U.S. military member or team and then sends resources tailored to the needs of a particular area," she said. "It's a fantastic way for our U.S. police to assist a country still in dire need."

LEEP has 1,200 pounds of gear available to ship to servicemembers in Afghanistan or Iraq, its two main shipping destinations. Shipping costs have proved to be a challenge for the Missouri-based program, however, and LEEP's administrators still are working out how to get the equipment into the hands that can use it.

The Law Enforcement Equipment Program is a supporter of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and companies with servicemembers and their families serving at home and abroad.

America Supports You: Program Takes 'LEEP' for America

By Samantha L. Quigley

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 23, 2007 – U.S. servicemembers are working overseas to build capable police forces, and a member organization of the Defense Department's America Supports You program is helping that cause.

America Supports You connects citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.

"The Law Enforcement Equipment Program facilitates the transfer of used law enforcement equipment to any American armed forces unit to be used to equip or train a friendly foreign police force," said Steve Newton a former police chief, who founded LEEP.

"We do not carry an inventory of equipment," he explained. "We simply act as a go-between for the American law enforcement community and the military."

The program also will assist in the transfer of needed equipment directly to the foreign police units if they're supervised by the United States, Newton, who also is a Marine and Navy veteran, added.

The Law Enforcement Equipment Program began to help an under-equipped Iraqi police force, he said. The program has since expanded to include Afghanistan and other areas where U.S. forces are training, or supervising the tr aining , of foreign law officers.

"I believe that it is our responsibility to assist our armed forces in any and all ways possible," he said on the program's Web site.

The needs expressed by the servicemembers on behalf of the foreign law officers include everything from reflective belts and vests to body armor, batons and handcuffs. Some areas also are asking for riot control sets, gloves and even traffic cones.

America Supports You often serves as a way for a group to network and find another group that can fulfill a request it can't. This has been the case for The Law Enforcement Equipment Program, Newton said. His program has received several referrals from other America Supports You members.