Several businesses have donated funds to the Pearl River County Sheriff Department’s SWAT team to help with the team’s continued training.

Those funds will help the department as team members go through more incident training.

Chief Investigator Donnie Saucier said about $2,000 was donated by several county businesses. The funds helped the department purchase weapon holsters and ammunition. Those supplies will be used to continue their training.

“All of that stuff is very expensive. The holsters alone were over $1,000,” Saucier said.

Sgt. David Johnson, supervisor of the department’s reserve division, spearheaded the effort to collect the donations. Davis will play an instrumental part, in conjunction with Saucier, in coordinating training events for the team. Community support is important to the department and is appreciated, Saucier said.

This donation will help the team gear up for training planned for the second week of December, in conjunction with the New Orleans Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactical division. Training will focus on firearms skills of the pistol and rifle team members and suspect vehicle apprehension tactics.

During the training each department will share operational methods and tactical techniques, Saucier said.

Saucier said he would like to thank Sgt. First Class Carley Davis and all of the men and women of the Mississippi Army National Guard’s First Battalion 155th Infantry for their assistance during last month’s training by proving housing and training facilities.

“He was a tremendous help to us in organizing and helping us put this school on,” Saucier said.

Saucier would also like to thank the Picayune Fire Department and Poplarville School District for lending the use of facilities that were used for training. Saucier said the school facility after school hours was used for emergency scenario training. The fire department allowed the team to use a facility at Station One to conduct tear gas training.

The department would like to thank the businesses that donated the money used to purchase the gear. Donors include Bobby Weathersby of Poplarville State Farm, Daniel Wise of Nationwide Insurance, Colette Oldmixon of Smith and Oldmixon Law Firm, Knights Ace Hardware of Poplarville, The Carousel of Poplarville, Oneal’s Restaurant of Poplarville, Duvall’s One Stop, The Corner Store, Miller’s Auto Sales of Poplarville and Carver Realty.