Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Jemison Police Deputy Chief Marc McMinn will more than likely spend his Sunday morning this weekend locating items from the 10-33 Program, which lends military surplus items to law enforcement agencies.

Jemison was recently approved for the program and McMinn will start locating equipment listed online at 1 a.m. on Sunday to use for law enforcement purposes at no cost to the residents of Jemison.

“This is a really great program and I am really excited about the things we will be able to acquire for this city,” McMinn said.

Jemison is the second city in Chilton County to be approved for the program, following Clanton.

The Chilton County Sheriff’s Department is also a member of the program.

McMinn, along with Jemison Police Chief Shane Fulmer, Mayor Eddie Reed and Jemison Administrative Assistant Shannon Welch traveled on Wednesday to Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal to look around and gain a better understanding of how the program works.

McMinn said some of the things he hopes to acquire through the program are portable generators for when law enforcement in the city respond to a call in the woods during the night.

“Portable generators would allow us to hook that up to our cars and use the flood lights at a crime scene,” McMinn said.

McMinn would also like to locate regular generators to hook up to Jemison City Hall in the event the power went out. Currently, city hall does not have a generator and if the electricity goes off everyone in city hall is left in the dark.

Another piece of equipment McMinn thinks would be beneficial is a van to transport prisoners back and forth from court to the county jail.

McMinn said oftentimes carrying four inmates to court requires two police cars and two officers to drive from the jail to court and back.

“If we had a van to be able to transport them all at one time it would really help,” McMinn said.

Although McMinn has not acquired anything from the program yet, he said the trip to Huntsville was informative and helped everyone understand how the process works.

The Jemison City Council told McMinn during a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday they were supportive of the program and appreciated McMinn’s work on getting Jemison approved for the 10-33. Any equipment acquired through the program will simply cost the gas to pick up the equipment and transport it back to Jemison.

McMinn said the equipment is posted online each day, seven days a week but newer equipment is posted online each Sunday at 1 a.m.

“I’m not really sure why they do it that way but you have to wake up early if you want to see the newest stuff,” McMinn said.