The Butler County Prison board this week authorized Warden Joe DeMore to spend more than $43,000 for new equipment for the prison’s CERT team.

The purchase will cover equipment for all 25 members of the team.

Last month, DeMore said he was not sure if it would be realistic to buy equipment for all 25 members, and said he at least would like to buy six sets of equipment — which would cover one six-person team — to start.

On Tuesday, he broke the pricing down for equipment to cover one officer, 12 officers and all 25 officers.

“I’m open to anything,” DeMore said.

The equipment would consist of a vest, a helmet and protective pads. The cost to cover one officer is $1,747 and $21,015 for 12 officers. For all 25 officers, the cost is $43,732.

DeMore said that buying all 25 sets of equipment at one time would save the county about $3,000 as opposed to buying a few sets at a time.

Commissioner Dale Pinkerton, prison board chairman, noted that it would save the county money to buy all 25 sets at once, and said the money could come from the prison’s commissary fund.

DeMore said the current gear is aging, and made up of mixed and matched pieces.

“There’s no set of the same thing,” DeMore said.

He said that he is concerned about the liability if the old equipment fails when it is needed.

DeMore said the new gear will last quite a while.

“This will cover us for many years,” DeMore said.

CERT team members are used for extraction, which is the process of forcibly removing uncooperative inmates from their cells, and for riots or other incidents taking place on pods at the prison.