Cape, Jackson police get gas masks, suits

The Cape Girardeau and Jackson police departments recently received 95 bags of homeland security equipment -- one for every full-time officer -- that will keep officers protected from dangerous chemicals.

The bags include plastic suits, gas masks and two different types of gloves.

The equipment was given to the department by the Missouri Police Chiefs Association, the result of Homeland Security funding to equip law enforcement officers against weapons of mass destruction.

"We can use some of this stuff for haz-mat in case there's a bad spill," said Jackson police Capt. Bob Hull.

Both departments have the equipment in hand, but both are waiting for training before the equipment is issued. The equipment will be carried in patrol cars.

According to Cape Girardeau Police Department spokesman Jason Selzer, 11 officers have received training last week. Those officers will soon instruct the rest of the department on how to use the equipment. Cape Girardeau received 74 bags.

Hull said fire chief Brad Golden arrived from Jefferson City with the equipment about three weeks ago with 21 bags. The Missouri Police Chiefs Association had some 9,000 sets that will be distributed to departments statewide.

On Feb. 24, Jackson's fire department will train the police officers on how and when to use the equipment.

The equipment, fire chief Brad Golden explained, is for one-time use only and not the same type of equipment the fire department would use for tending to a hazardous material emergency.

"One thing that's a little different is that the law enforcement equipment is strictly an escape-type suit," Golden said. "It's for a time when an officer might find himself in a bad environment, the wrong place at the wrong time. One of the things we'll have to train them is that not all chemical protection suits and respiration equipment is good for all environments."

Golden said he could see a situation where an officer might be assisting with an overturned anhydrous gas truck. If, say, the wind shifts and starts blowing the chemical around, then the officers could don the suits.

"I'm happy the fire department has been given an opportunity to interface with law enforcement and to train with them," he said. "This way, we get to understand their job better and they understand our job better."

bmiller@semissourian.com

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