County EMA procures trailer for sheriff’s department

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Thanks to the efforts of Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Tom Capraro, the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department now has a grant-funded, multiple-use equipment trailer — complete with a ramp on the back end.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    READY TO ROLL — Piscataquis County Sheriff John Goggin, left, and County Emergency Management Agency Director Tom Capraro stand in front of a new trailer for the sheriff’s department, parked behind the county offices in Dover-Foxcroft. The trailer was funded entirely through an approximate $4,200 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which Capraro worked to secure for the sheriff’s department.

    Piscataquis County Sheriff John Goggin explained the enclosed trailer was procured through U.S. Department of Homeland Security funds “by the Emergency Management Agency here in Piscataquis County, represented by Tom Capraro. He’s the one who went for the federal grant and he’s the one who acquired this trailer for the sheriff’s department. If it wasn’t for his efforts we at the sheriff’s department wouldn’t have this today.”
    The trailer, which Capraro said was funded entirely through an approximate $4,200 grant, can be hauled behind a sheriff’s department vehicle to allow transport of equipment across the region. The back end opens with a pair of doors, and a ramp feature allows smaller vehicles to be driven in. One side has a smaller door to allow for easy access inside.
    Goggin said the trailer will be used for firearms training and at crime scenes “and to move snowmobiles at various locations around the county in winter time.” He said the sheriff’s department will also be able to lend the trailer to other county law enforcement agencies.
    “It’s a great resource for us,” he said, saying the department has previously not had such a resource. “Without Tom’s efforts in getting the grant we wouldn’t have it here.”
    “I try to get equipment, whether to be for law enforcement or fire departments,” Capraro said, saying he seeks grants and other fund sources to help cover equipment these agencies are not able to afford within their budgets. “It’s a 100 percent funded grant,” he said. “My office didn’t have to pay anything nor did the sheriff’s department to get the grant.”
    Goggin said the trailer will have sheriff’s department decals put on “to dress it up a bit, so people going down the road will know what agency it’s with.”