Crime may not pay, but once in awhile, law enforcement does get rewarded.
In Northville Township, that reward came in the form of a new Chevrolet Blazer donated by Tom Close who won the vehicle at a charity golf tournament last year when he sank a nearly impossible hole in one.
“This never happens. Nobody ever wins the car,” Close told reporters. He said he talked with his wife and they agreed to donate it to the Northville Township Police Department in a gesture of appreciation for the way officers handled an event last August.
Close explained that while on his way home from, what else, playing golf last summer, his wife called telling him that she, their daughter and their young granddaughter had been the victims of an armed robbery in the CVS parking lot in downtown Northville. She told him that the gunman snuck up on them in the lot, aimed the gun at them individually, and demanded their jewelry and wallets. After grabbing the jewelry and wallets, the man ran off, she said.
While the crime took place in the City of Northville where officers immediately responded to the scene, Northville Township Police were also notified as the robber had the family's address from the identification in the stolen wallets. Close said officers from Northville Township were at their home when they arrived from the crime scene and assured them that township officers would be patrolling the area heavily in an effort to protect them.
Close said the officers' handling and attitude really helped the family, especially when officers returned on Friday and again on Saturday and even after change of duty on Sunday. He said the attention and concern was a great help to the entire family during a stressful time. Help that deserved a repayment, the family decided.
While Close said he would give both the township and the city officers a new vehicle if he could, he chose the township because of the officers' personal attention and compassion. He said they helped his family through the trauma with their continued attention and concern.
Close, president of Advanced Technologies Consultants, Inc., said the family is in a position not to need another vehicle, so they opted to donate the new car.
Northville Township Police Chief Scott Hilden said the vehicle has already joined the police fleet and will be used for a variety of tasks. He said he didn't know how many people donate new cars to police departments around the country, but that he didn't think there were “a whole lot.”
Hilden said the car and the positive comments about the service the officers provided means a great deal to all the officers and helps morale in the department. He said the positive comments reinforce the motives officers have for going into police work.
“You're out there to help the community. You're out the to do good things,” he said.
