On November 7, Bay Alarm Company, Pacheco, Calif, an independently-owned and operated alarm company, presented a donation to the Colton police department of state-of-the-art ballistics helmets for its Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.

According to the company, this donation represents the beginning of the Colton Police Department - Bay Alarm Company relationship. Bay Alarm has a long tradition of championing law enforcement in the communities it serves throughout California — including annual support in the amount of $100,000 to the Law Enforcement Training Center (LETC) located in Pittsburg, Calif., a partnership that is now approaching its ninth year.

As more and more officers are killed by gunshot wounds to the head, ballistic helmets are of critical importance to police departments. Composed of 14 elite detectives and patrol officers who train bi-monthly to perform high risk operations such as hostage rescues, serving search warrants, subduing barricaded suspects, and engaging heavily-armed criminals, the Colton SWAT team had been using outdated equipment due to deep government budget cuts.

Four Bay Alarm executives including Matt Westphal and Tim Westphal, co-owners of this family-owned and operated company joined the SWAT team at the Colton Police Department, located at 650 North La Cadena Drive, Colton, Calif. to present the helmets and participate in the officer training.

“This donation means so much to our company,” said Matthew Westphal, co-president of Bay Alarm Company. “When we found out that the Colton SWAT team was using dangerously outdated helmets, we responded immediately with an offer to provide the latest lifesaving equipment. We care about the communities we serve and look forward to finding other opportunities to support law enforcement agencies throughout the state.”

“We are enormously grateful for this generous donation,” added Colton police Cpl. Ray Mendez. “This is an excellent example of a private organization stepping in to fill budget shortfall gaps, which in this case was putting police officer’s lives at risk.”