Law enforcement officers, like soldiers, leave no man behind, and members of the Indian Harbour Beach and Melbourne police departments have not forgotten about their fellow first responders in Florida’s Panhandle whose lives and homes were upended by Hurricane Michael in October. Melbourne and Indian Harbour officers put an urgent plea out to their communities for donations of power tools, chain saws and blades, generators, lumber, nails and screws, building materials and gift cards to stores like Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, Home Depot or Ace Hardware. They’re calling it the “Blue Line Drive” in reference to first responders serving as the thin, blue line (thin, red line for firefighters) between society and all the bad things that threaten public safety.
Donations will go to the Mexico Beach area hardest hit by Michael, specifically to the families of first responders – the men and women called in to work for multiple shifts or, in the case of firefighters, even multiple days straight when their area is in the path of a storm. Public safety work remains hectic after a storm passes, too. When everyone else is cleaning up, drying-in their roofs and removing debris, that’s when freak accidents, support of power crews, and directing traffic at intersections with no working signals stretch personnel and resources thin. In short, first responders often have to shelve their own homes to make sure everyone else is safe.
“The hurricane damage is no longer in the news, so people have forgotten,” said Sgt. Matt Jankowski of the Indian Harbour Beach Police Department. “That, combined with everyone being busy or out of town over the Thanksgiving holiday, and we really haven’t gotten a lot donated.”
Jankowski said the warehouse the city set aside to collect the relief supplies sits largely empty and he’s getting concerned. “Time is running out,” he said. The officers plan to convoy up in mid-December to meet with their counterparts at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office for local distribution of the supplies to people from local agencies.
Donations can be dropped off at the Indian Harbour Beach Police Department, 2055 South Patrick Drive on the southeast side of City Hall; or at the Melbourne Police Department headquarters at 650 N. Apollo Blvd. from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Jankowski said residents with questions about the Blue Line Drive can call him at 321-426-6136 or Christina Brainard at the Melbourne PD at 321-608-6336.
