Green Tokai donates police shield

BROOKVILLE — Green Tokai Chief Executive Officer Terry Klempt and Green Tokai General Manager of Human Resources Kelly Todd were honored by Brookville Police Chief Doug Jerome for the company’s donation that allowed the department to purchase a police ballistic shield.

“Green Tokai is one of our largest employers and great supporter of our community. Each year they’re generous enough to sponsor ‘Ghostly Night Out’ and other things the department does,” Jerome said.

“Last year they called us and said is there anything you need,” Jerome said.

Jerome said he told police major Tom Simon of Green Tokai’s offer.

“I went to Major Simon and said Green Tokai has made this offer and what could we use and the first thing on the top of his list was this shield,” Jerome said, referring to the one held by Maj. Simon.

Jerome said his department has secured a lot of necessary equipment since 2020.

“After 2020, you remember the civil unrest that occurred across the nation and we had things happen around our community,” Jerome said.

“Because of that we did a lot of things to beef up the police department and added quite a few tools to our tool belt,” Jerome said.

Jerome said one item the department didn’t have in the budget was a top-of-the-line ballistic shield the department could employ to enter buildings in the event of an active-shooting event or when such a shield is needed.

“If we had a team that went into a structure in an active-shooting situation, we would have a shield such as this one,” Jerome said.

Jerome said “Green Tokai made a nice donation” and six months later, the shield was delivered to the police department.

“The nice thing about these shields is they keep the staff safe. We pray we don’t have to use it, but they will be safe if they have to use it,” Jerome said.

Reach Terry Baver at [email protected].