Prepared
Equipment and tools for patrol, marine, bicycle, investigations, and training. Examples other North Sound chapters have funded regionally include vehicle outfitting, radar/lidar, K-9 veterinary care, drones, and gym/wellness spaces.
What the Mercer Island Chapter funds
Non-budgeted needs. Real Island impact.
Chapter gifts fill the gap between what the City can appropriate and what excellent, humane policing actually requires.
Guiding rule
We do not replace the City budget. We complete it.
This chapter focuses on essential items and programs that aid effective community policing and are not funded, or not fully funded, in the adopted municipal budget.
They look out for us. Here are three ways to look out for them:
Supported
Officer and professional-staff wellness after critical incidents, recognition and honor-guard support, family assistance in hardship, and modest comforts that tell people their service is seen.
Connected
Supporting the community calendar: National Night Out, Coffee with a Cop, Bike Rodeos, Paws on Patrol, senior programs, safety talks, holiday events, and youth welcome nights.
MIPD-specific opportunities
Where Island gifts can go first
These categories are a working menu for the chapter’s first year. Final grant lists will be approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors and reported through the Member Agency annual-report process.
Project spotlight · Goal: $25,000
Search and recovery drones for the Marine Patrol
An aerial drone with a thermal camera that can find a person in the water and drop a flotation device, and an underwater drone that can search the bottom day or night, in shallow water or past 200 feet. Under the I-90 floating bridges, west of the Island, the water runs 150 to 200 feet. The East Channel is shallower, and the underwater drone is useful in both. This $25,000 kit would give the Marine Patrol its first drones. The underwater drone comes first. If funds allow, the goal is to also purchase an aerial drone.
Marine patrol readiness
Mercer Island’s identity is the lake. Safety equipment, training aids, public-education materials, and small capital items that keep the marine unit visible and effective are a natural chapter priority.
Community event kit
Tents, tablecloths, giveaway safety items, kid-friendly activity kits, and printed materials so MIPD can say yes to Farmers Market, festivals, and school nights without drawing on the operations budget.
Crisis dignity fund
Under discussion with MIPD
Peer foundations put prepaid aid cards and emergency lodging in officers’ hands for victims who need help before a social-service office opens. The chapter is exploring how Mercer Island could do the same.
Wellness & recognition
Peer support, after-action care, department meals, awards, and the small rituals that keep a compact agency tight-knit.
Youth & senior safety
Bike rodeos, school-resource extras, new-family welcome events, and the Seniors Living Alone group. This is education that fits the Foundation’s charitable purpose.
Training beyond the academy
Specialized courses, conference seats, and scenario tools that the City training line cannot always absorb in the year they are needed.
The Foundation bylaws also authorize monetary relief for families of fallen officers, potential scholarships for children of fallen officers, and other emergency matters connected to Member Agencies. Those remain available if the Island ever needs them.
Accountability
How a request becomes a check
1. Need is identified
MIPD staff or the chapter delegates surface a non-budgeted need that fits the charitable purpose.
2. Board approval
The citizen delegate and MIPD delegate bring the request to the Foundation’s Board of Directors, which approves the expenditure.
3. Report back
As a Member Agency, MIPD submits an annual report on how allocated funds were used. The parent Board retains oversight.