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CODEY SENDS 189 POLICE, HAZMAT PERSONNEL TO NEW ORLEANS; PLANS TO SEND MORE OVER NEXT 14 DAYS Today’s Deployment is First Stage of a Massive Effort to Create a Self-Sufficient Base of Operations for New Jersey Personnel to Help With Post-Katrina Recovery (HAMILTON TOWNSHIP) – Directed by Acting Governor Richard J. Codey, the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management today sent 189 police and hazmat personnel to set up a base camp in New Orleans. Including those deployed today, Codey plans to send additional personnel as requested, including firefighters, health care and EMS workers, over the next two weeks to help the State of Louisiana with its post-Katrina recovery effort. Those who leave today will begin helping with the recovery effort sometime tomorrow morning. They will also begin setting up a self-sufficient base camp with the ability to generate power and provide water, food, shelter and a base of operations for the hundreds of New Jersey personnel who are expected to work in New Orleans during the coming months. “Americans have always been there for one another. After 9/11, help came to New Jersey from all over the country. Today it’s the Gulf Coast that needs help and New Jersey will be there to return the favor,” said Codey. “These individuals who are deploying today are meeting a desperate public service. They are a display of New Jersey at its best and I thank all of them for their hard work and generosity.” The 189 personnel will leave at about noon today from the New Jersey State Police Technology Complex in Hamilton. They include:
Directed by Codey, the Office of Emergency Management is offering to send a law enforcement task force of about 140 law enforcement officers to the State of Mississippi in the near future. The Office is also offering to send a task force of 100 additional firefighters to Louisiana. To make these deployments possible the State Office of Emergency Management, led by State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes, Lieutenant Colonel William Malast and Major John Hunt, worked with groups representing the Department of Health and Senior Services, Department Transportation, Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, the State Fire Marshall, all 21 county offices of emergency management, all 21 county prosecutors and a host of other entities. All deployments are being made under the provisions of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) mutual aid agreement between the states. They organized critical resources for the massive effort including:
“Once again, New Jersey’s rescue and relief workers are stepping up to help those who are suffering and in need,” said Attorney General Peter C. Harvey. “We saw their courage and selflessness on 9/11, when terrorists struck at our doorstep. This time they are responding to a natural disaster far away, but the dedication of our police, fire, military, rescue and medical personnel remains the same.” Colonel Fuentes said, “Getting together some of these resources was easy, thanks to the cooperation with our state, county and local agencies. Getting others – like finding a company to provide us quickly with car-carrying trucks – was a bit of a challenge. But this is America. When our neighbors are in need, we mobilize everything to help them.” Previous deployment already on the ground On Saturday, Codey sent five water rescue teams comprised of 34 personnel from New Jersey Task Force One (the state’s multi-purpose search and rescue team) the New Jersey State Police, the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, and a mechanic from the State Department of Transportation. Those teams arrived at Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Sunday afternoon, and are now operating in concert with the Louisiana State Police in New Orleans and the surrounding area. They have already been involved in life-saving missions. Codey and the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management are currently offering additional resources to the States of Louisiana and Mississippi, and will be mobilizing those resources over the coming days and weeks. Codey urges New Jersey residents looking to help the citizens ravaged by Hurricane Katrina to do so in the following ways:
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