Resident Gifts $100K to N.D. Police Department on Her 85th Birthday

JAMESTOWN, N.D. — The Jamestown Police Department received a surprising gift recently on the donor's 85th birthday.

Clarice Liechty, of Jamestown, recently donated $100,000 through the North Dakota Fraternal Order of Police to the Jamestown Police Department.

"She handed me her 85th birthday card with the check in it," said Scott Edinger, Jamestown chief of police. "That was her gift to us for her 85th birthday."

Liechty said the Jamestown Police Department works to keep the community safe and its employees need to be thanked.

"This was just a gift for something that they could use within their police department," Liechty said.

Liechty said she didn't want the Jamestown Police Department to feel slighted because of her donation to the Jamestown Fire Department. She donated $185,000 to the Jamestown Fire Department for new turnout gear and equipment to care for it.

"I can give today so why not use my money there," she said.

Liechty said the Bible says people are supposed to be generous and making donations is something that she and her late husband, Reuben, always did.

"We're supposed to share what we have and give what we have to others," she said. " ... My son (Richard) is completely in agreement and happy that I do."

Mayor Dwaine Heinrich said the donation from Liechty was unsolicited and was a very welcoming surprise. He said the donation was just another example of what the Liechtys have done for Jamestown over the years.

"I know that I speak for everyone in Jamestown when we just say, 'Thank you,'" he said. " ... What a really good example for people to think about their community and particularly the public safety aspects of what local government does in each and every community and here in Jamestown. The money that comes to our general fund, it is consumed 100% by police, fire and municipal court. So this is definitely an area of need."

Edinger said the Jamestown Police Department will use the donation to help with remodeling the debriefing room. He said cubicles need to be replaced and officers need a versatile locker.

"It's something that they can put a bag in, a little bigger because they have a lot of stuff they are taking with," he said, referring to the lockers. "So if they are using a backpack or briefcase-type duffle bag, they are too big to fit into a standard sports locker or school locker, so we would have something that would have a mailbox in it and a drawer and then a locker section to it. We are still working on exactly what those would look like and trying to get some prices."

Edinger said Jamestown police officers use filing cabinets that are 50 to 60 years old to keep their equipment in.

"They are getting worn out and not closing properly and things like that so we would replace those with lockers," he said.

He said the shelves in the debriefing room where officers keep their bags will be removed.

"You can imagine six to 10 officers a day coming in and tossing bags in and out of a plywood shelf, what those look like after nearly 50 years," he said.

Edinger said the current cubicles are from at least 1986 and maybe even before that. He said the Jamestown Police Department received the cubicles from the Sheyenne Valley Area Career and Technology Center in Valley City.

Edinger said new cubicles will give Jamestown police officers work space to spread out their paperwork and evidence when they are typing their reports. He said the cubicles give officers a place to type their reports. He said the cubicles would also have places to store phonebooks that list phone numbers that are commonly contacted, reference material and manuals that tell officers how to handle certain calls or the process, time frames and documents needed for a junk ordinance violation, for example.

Edinger said the donation allows funds in the Jamestown Police Department's budget to be taken out.

"It will save the taxpayers some money and then we will get to do it, not just a way that will work, but a way that works best," he said. "We won't just have to make due with the cheapest thing we can afford."

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