SOUTH FORK — On the evening of March 19, residents in South Fork gathered at the South Fork community building to show their support for local law enforcement and to participate in a presentation conducted by Shield616.

Founder Jake Skifstad recounted his first-hand experience as a member of the SWAT team that responded to both the 2007 church shooting and the 2015 Planned Parenthood shooting in Colorado Springs, highlighting the need for proper equipment for all first responders.

South Fork’s Chief of Police OJ Pierce partnered with the organization to receive two vests fully funded by Don Burwell of True Grit Excavating in South Fork.

Shield616 began in 2015 with the hopes of providing support and equipment to Colorado law enforcement and have helped several communities afford tactical equipment over the past 9 years. Through the generosity of local sponsors such as Burwell, law enforcement organizations like South Fork’s have and can benefit from the program.

The program is based on serving law enforcement officials in rural communities and through donations, makes expensive equipment like Kevlar vests affordable. Each vest costs about $1,400 to purchase through the program and is equipped with everything a field officer would need.

According to the program description, Shield616 was formed with the street cop in mind. The goal of the program is to not only provide the safety equipment needed, but to also offer a resource of support for those that need it after an incident occurs. The program was formed by Skifstad who was involved in an active-shooter situation in 2007 in Colorado Springs and again in 2015. It was after these incidents that Skifstad began to look to community organizations for support and donations to provide this equipment to rural communities that may not have the budgets necessary to afford the expensive equipment.

The vision of the program is to rally the community together to show support for local law enforcement and to help sponsor officers who need the active-shooter gear. A lot of the equipment used in these communities is what is known as soft armor and does not adequately protect the officers from some of the artillery used today. After several years, the Shield 616 program was created to help those communities provide for their local law enforcement by supplying equipment that could withstand higher velocity rounds.

“I would like to thank Jake with Shield616, Don Burwell and the community of South Fork. The support our officers of the South Fork Police Department were shown tonight means the world to us,” said South Fork Police Chief Pierce.

Pierce hopes to purchase more vests as additional officers are hired.