Helping hand

Monday night, Al Berndt, the assistant director of the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, called me. Al is a former Lincoln police sergeant. He was looking for some Nebraska law enforcement agencies that could commit personnel to an 8-day tour of duty in Cedar Rapids, IA. Nebraska and Iowa have mutually agreed to assist one another in circumstances such as the flooding presently occurring in Iowa.

I immediately committed ten officers, and set about getting a detail lined up. Capt. Doug Srb, Sgt. Chris Peterson, and Sgt. Craig Price were quickly recruited, and seven additional officers, Sharon Howe, Matt Brodd, Brian Golden, Mike Muff, Derek Dittman, Tarvis Banks, and Grant Powell volunteered. By yesterday morning, they were assembling their gear and receiving a briefing at HQ.

Capt. Dave Beggs and Sgts. Tom Hamm, Mike Bassett, Shannon Karl, Sam Santacroce, and Danny Reitan had done some initial prep work for them, our accounting supervisor Michele Selvage had the financial arrangements in progress, and Sgt. Don Scheinost had scouted the availability of GPS devices (on sale!) in order to help our team navigate in unfamiliar territory. Sgt. Todd Beam had spent several hours after midnight getting five patrol cars outfitted with aircards, so the team could use our mobile data network on the fly, and programmed radios to provide communications. The police garage staff had prepared the vehicles and had them waiting. I love the way this department pulls together when there is a job to be done.

We sent our group of personnel off Tuesday morning with a command post location and a local Cedar Rapids PD contact person's phone number. Their mission for the next week is to help the local authorities as they can, as long as they are needed--could be a couple of days, could be a week. They can expect 12 hour shifts, foregone days off, less-than-one-star lodgings, uncertain showers, and the possibility of lots of frayed nerves and short tempers. But they will also have the gratifying experience of helping others in a big way.

The Cedar Rapids PD and other local Iowa agencies have their hands full, have been on emergency call out for a considerable time. I presume that many of these officers also have their own homes and circumstances to worry about as well. It is our honor and privilege to join the Minneappolis and St. Paul police departments, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, and Nebraska State Patrol on this mission to help out our neighbors.

As a police sergeant in the 1980 I was one of a group of officers assigned for a similar mission after the tornadoes that devasted Grand Island, Nebraska. It was one of the best experiences of my career. We all felt good about helping out and relieving some of the stress by covering the night shift for a week. If the shoe were on the other foot, we'd want the same thing.

I shook my head at some of the early comments posted on the Lincoln Journal Star's website pertaining to this operation, which were questioning the expense and insinuating that this was some kind of boondoggle. It was gratifying to see the better angels of human nature prevail as the thread unfolded. Some people seem to quickly forget the help we received when the chips were down in Lincoln.