ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — The Ector County Sheriff's Office has been given all new equipment that range from new rifles, shotguns, handguns and more.
Five years ago, seven people lost their lives in a Midland-Odessa mass shooting.
The updated equipment is all to ensure that history doesn't repeat itself.
One of things ECSO did was change policies in place. So now, every deputy is issued rifles and shotguns.
It's the first time they've ever done this in their agency's history.
The City of Odessa reported on Thursday that the Odessa Police Department has been given three new patrol cars.
Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis told NewsWest 9 that they also have a new fleet of vehicles.
As far as the fleet goes, ECSO has a contract with Axon for bodycams, along with a feature for license plate reading.
Most importantly, the new vehicles and equipment aim to create a faster response time to target a threat.
"When the mass shooting happened before we, we had probably less than half of the vehicles that we have now and when that went down, of course it was on a weekend day and and I contacted our people, my captain and I said 'get everybody on the road that has a car.' Well, there was a limited amount of people that had a vehicle in place at that time," Sheriff Griffis said. "Now each and every badge carrier within the agency has a vehicle, and if they're advised to get that vehicle, go to a certain situation, look for this vehicle, look for this person, we can get on the road right then and hopefully save time, save some lives. That's the main thing is save the save some lives."
ECSO also said they're always looking for new technology.
Right now, they're waiting on a delivery for ballistic shields that will be issued to every deputy on the street.