All Fort Madison Police Officers Now Equipped with Body-Worn Cameras Thanks To Community Support

Thirty-five various residence, businesses, and service groups in Fort Madison came together to raise nearly $14,000 for their police department to be able to purchase 18 Body-Worn cameras, one for each police officer.

Fort Madison Police Chief Bruce Gustafson, “In this day and age where the police seem like they are taking a beating in the press, its so nice to see that we are appreciated and that the citizens and the community and the service groups and the business have all come together to say hey, we want to help you guys out, and that means the world to us.”

Chief Gustafson says that Linda Nash from the First Christian Church wanted to give back to police officers. Nash’s son and grandson both serve as police officers. Before Fort Madison Police Chief Bruce Niggemeyer resigned this past November, he introduced Nash to the 34th Place Neighborhood Watch in Fort Madison. Chief Gustafson says that both Nash and the 34th Place Neighborhood Watch wanted to do something to help the police department and it was decided that the goal would be to raise money to supply the department with some body cameras.

In October, the individuals that make up the 34th Place Neighborhood Watch got busy reaching out to residents and businesses within the community with the hopes of getting together enough donations to buy half a dozen body camera but to everyone’s surprise, within a couple of months the group collected enough money to purchase a body camera for each officer on the force.

The police department already has cameras in all the patrol vehicles but body cameras offer a whole new level of protection for both officers and citizens.

“We can record things out on the streets, in the woods, in the buildings, in the homes that we go into, instead of just the, let’s say a car camera. It will protect the citizens along with protecting us on accusations of wrongdoing on either side,” says Chief Gustafson.

The Police Department also purchased a docking station to download and store the images from the body cameras, this includes the ability to link up the car cameras to the body cameras.

According to Chief Gustafson there is additional funding available to maintain the body cameras that he says in this line of work might occasionally get broken.

Following is a list of the financial contributors:

John & Teresa Dearing
Hennigar Construction
Lee County Bank & Trust
Lex & Marie Whitcanack
Viola Krebill
Sorrento’s Inc
Turbo Wash/Eric Frietag
Freeport-McMoran (Climax)
Fort Colony
Fort Madison Bank & Trust
Dorothy Miller
Dan & Joan Vice
Donald Hall
Johnson Trucking
Pilot Grove Savings Bank
Mary Barnett & Jim Brockman
Neighborhood Watch Program
Mike & Judy Sammons
Dan & Kathy Judy
Ken Morrow Memorial
Clifford & Arleen Matta
Huffman Welding & Machine
Martin Graber
Wright Solution, LLC (Larry Wright)
Fehseke & Gray Law Offices
FM Lions Club
Lyndie Campbell Memorial
Tom Mitchell
Rex Lane Van
Keating & Janet Hissem
Penny Schneider
Larry & Rhonda Zumdome
Shirley Serangeli
Jan Garza