Blattner Energy donated more than $11,000 for the purchase of new handheld ballistics shields for the department as a “thank you” for providing extra security at the Holliday Creek Solar Array northeast of Fort Dodge.

According to WCSO Chief Deputy Derek Christie, about three weeks ago, deputies were called out to the solar farm because of concerns that an employee, who was a known felon, had a gun in his vehicle. Deputies went out to the site with a search warrant and did find a handgun in the employee’s vehicle and subsequently arrested him.

The employee, Gregory Marshall Jr., had been involved in a non-fatal shooting at the Brass Monkey bar in Fort Dodge in November 2021.

A few days after the April 4 arrest, representatives from Blattner contacted the WCSO to ask for extra security and patrol around the solar farm in case Marshall returned after his termination.

“We opened up some overtime shifts that they were going to pay us for and for the last month, we’ve been providing security out there,” Christie said. “And, obviously, it’s no cost to the taxpayers — it was completely on their dime.”

When Blattner said they wanted to make a donation as a thank you, Christie said the department tried to find something that could help the department that wasn’t already budgeted for — and that’s where the idea for the ballistics shields came in.

“All four shifts will get one of these, so at any given time, if something comes up in the county that we would need a shield for, which we had not had, now we have one on every shift,” Christie said.

The shields are made with ballistics Kevlar and weigh about 15 pounds.

“If we have to search a house or something, they’ll be very beneficial to us,” Christie said.

Christie said the WCSO appreciates contributions like these from community partners because the department doesn’t always have the budget for things like ballistics shields.

The four ballistics shields were delivered to the WCSO on Wednesday.

An email to Blattner Energy was not returned as of press time.