Annual Santa Maria Police Council golf tournament held to help provide support to the police department

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – The Santa Maria Police Council (SMPC) is holding its annual golf tournament and comedy night all day Friday at the Santa Maria Country Club.

Now in its 15th year, the popular event is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the non-profit organization, which provides financial support to the Santa Maria Police Department (SMPD).

"We have 140 golfers out here today," said SMPC Executive Director Mike Gibson. "We'll have another 280 people tonight for the dinner and the two events combined and net somewhere in the order of $183,000 for the Police Council, and then all that money gets donated back to the police department."

The profits from this year's tournament and dinner are already earmarked towards a new drone for the police department.

"We have a really great drone program," said Santa Maria Police Chief Marc Schneider. "By adding a second drone, it will allow us to take that drone program to the next level.  The drone program was started because of the funding of the Police Council, so we're really grateful, and I think the community has benefited tremendously from it because we use it for searching for missing persons. We use it for pre-planned events, and it keeps everyone safe, or keeps the officers safe for the suspect who may be barricaded in a house is safer because we can do things from a distance and we can get a view of what's going on, and we can communicate with that person in hopes that they come out willingly, as opposed to putting a dog or a person in there, and you end up with somebody getting injured or killed potentially, so it's a it's a safety issue for sure. 

Since it was first created in 2007, the Police Council has raised nearly $2 million, which has supplied the department with valuable equipment and training.

"There there are things that the city just can't afford to fund. and that's where the police council steps in to fund these things that are really needed and very valuable tools for the for the department," said Gibson. "We really believe in supporting our department. The police department is a very important thing for the city to keep us safe and it's very important that we support them, just like they're supporting us."

According to the Police Council, some of the equipment that has been purchased through its fundraising efforts includes, Bearcat armored vehicles,“airsoft” training weapons, crime lab equipment, gem cart batteries and upgrades,hobble restraints,K-9 units, K-9 training, K-9 training bite suits, badge patches for the SMPD explorer program, state-of-the-art property and evidence management system, SWAT simulation/specialized training weapons, tasers for every officer and night vision training.

The money that's donated by the Police Council is obviously instrumental in allowing us to accomplish our mission," said Schneider. "Equally important is the fact that people take time out of their day to serve on the board, to raise funds, to go out in the community and bring in folks to this great event is priceless honestly because it just shows their commitment to the community and to the police department, so I'm extremely grateful for everything they do for us."

For more information about the Santa Maria Police Council, click here for the SMPC website.