SPENCER — Members of Moose Lodge 2019 gifted a large check to the Granite Quarry-Faith Joint Police Authority during their meeting on Monday night. It’s the latest contribution to area law enforcement by the Spencer-based organization.

“Spencer Moose Lodge would like to present you with a $1,000 check to help you out with your police department for whatever you need to do,” President Ted Carmen said to Todd Taylor, the interim chief of the Granite Quarry-Faith Joint Police Authority.

Carmen commended the work that Taylor’s department is doing, adding that he is proud that the Moose Lodge is able to help.

“We do appreciate it, and anytime our lodge can help your department, just let us know,” Carmen continued. “We will be glad to try and do what we can do for you.”

As the leader of a smaller department, Taylor said community contributions like the one he received on Monday night can make a big difference.

“This will go a long way to help our department,” Taylor said. I am the interim chief of the Granite Quarry. We are a small department, so any amount of money we get, any funds we get, truly helps our agency, so I do appreciate that. Thanks to all of you.”

After reception of the funding, Taylor illuminated how he plans to put the money to work.

“For us, we are going to use it for equipment, any kind of special equipment, public relations or just any small things that we need,” Taylor said.

Contributions like the one from the Moose Lodge on Monday help departments like Taylor’s keep their books balanced without the need to burden the taxpayers who rely on the agency’s public service.

“We are a small agency; we are taxpayer-funded,” Taylor said. “We rely a lot to try to keep our taxes on a lower level; we require a lot of support from the community to help us purchase things.

“It’s been a while (since the last donation of any kind), but every little bit helps.”

Taylor said he was a little surprised when the Moose Lodge in Spencer reached out to make a donation to the Granite Quarry-Faith Joint Police Authority.

“Absolutely, I was,” Taylor said. “Mr. Clarence Foster and I are friends. We do go back. With Clarence being part of the lodge here, he mentioned maybe we can help you out. Would you be interested? Absolutely. We will take any donations that we can get. He said let me see what I can do for you. He kind of pushed this in and fostered getting this out. Any little bit helps.”

Monday’s contribution was just the latest in donations made to law enforcement this year by the Moose Lodge.

To date, the lodge has donated three Cop In a Box systems to the Spencer Police Department and the Rowan County and Davidson County sheriff’s offices.

In May, the lodge donated the technology to the Spencer Police Department.

Cop In a Box is a technological device that allows law enforcement personnel tracking child and sexual predators online to infiltrate rings and chat rooms without raising awareness of the origin of their inquiries. As explained on Monday night, online predators can easily identify IP addresses and would be able to track standard issues computers back to a police department or other law enforcement agency. The Cop In a Box system, which costs approximately $3,000 each, allows them to mask the source of the communications, making successful interception of potential predators more likely.

Carmen indicated at the meeting that he was proud of the work his lodge was doing to support local law enforcement and intended to continue their efforts to assist those who serve and protect.