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ONTWA TOWNSHIP — Thursday, local businesses showed their support of the Ontwa Township/Edwardsburg Police Department.

Recently, area marijuana dispensaries Dr. A’s Releaf Center, 26324 US-12, and NOBO Michigan, 69411 M-62, teamed up to donate $12,465 to the Ontwa Township/Edwardsburg Police Department. Thursday, the donation was formally accepted by the police board.

“We want to formally thank you guys for what you are doing,” said Edwardsburg Village President and Police Board Member Dennis Peak as he addressed representatives of the dispensaries. “This will go a long way toward helping the police department.”

According to Police Chief Doug Westrick, the funds will support video storage from the department’s body and dash cameras. Twice, he said, the department had lost its footage due to computer and storage issues, but the department did not have the funds to fix the problem.

“Nowadays, videos are so much more important,” Westrick said. “To be honest, it protects us tremendously as police officers, and losing it loses trust from the community.”

Westrick reached out to Dr. A’s and NOBO about the problem and the need for better and more reliable video storage.

“They stepped up immediately,” Westrick said. “It is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.”

Co-founder of NOBO Michigan Bill Stohler attended Thursday’s meeting. He said he was glad to help out the township and village in any way that he could.

“We want to make sure we are a good neighbor and a good partner to all the municipalities we work with,” he said. “We understand it is a privilege that they allowed this type of business, and we want to keep a good relationship.”

Jessica Downey, manager, and Sarah Ballinger, supervisor, were present at Thursday’s meeting representing Dr. A’s. They said they believed donating to the police department was a part of being a good community partner.

“We are helping out the community,” Ballinger said. “Giving back is super important.”

Also Thursday, the police board accepted a donation of $1,680 from Starboard Choice Marine, 68502 Dailey Road, to purchase a subscription to TIMS Ticket Import from LexisNexis E-Ticket software.

Due to the amount of time that the software would save with inputting tickets, Westrick estimated the software could save an employee up to one month of work over the course of a year.

“[Starboard] has been a great community partner to us,” Westrick said.