Michigan Law Enforcement Officers Complete First Day In New Orleans

East Lansing.  The Michigan law enforcement contingent in Louisiana successfully completed their first mission yesterday, performing search and rescue operations in the City of New Orleans.  Throughout the day, officers went door-to-door in a dry area of the city making contact with remaining residents and arranging for their evacuation.

Some of the residents the officers encountered were escorted to awaiting military personnel to be air lifted out of the area.  Residents refusing to leave were allowed to stay in their homes for now.  Although the Michigan contingent did encounter several armed residents, the officers were not met with resistance and reported only positive contacts with residents.

The officers returned to Baton Rouge last evening after a more than 12-hour workday.  They left again early this morning for New Orleans to begin following up on unanswered 911 calls received in the days since the hurricane.

Officers in the Michigan contingent are from the Barry County Sheriff’s Department, Berkley Police Department,  Burton Police Department, Charlevoix County Sheriff’s Department, Cheboygan County Sheriff’s Department, Dearborn Police Department, Emmet County Sheriff’s Department, Grand Rapids Police Department, Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, Jackson Police Department, Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, Lansing Police Department, Leelanau County Sheriff’s Department, Mackinaw City Police Department, Meridian Township Police Department, Michigan State Police, Redford Township Police Department, Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police Department, Southgate Police Department, Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department and West Bloomfield Township Police Department.

Law enforcement resources from Michigan were requested by the State of Louisiana through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) on Saturday, Sept. 3.  The contingent of Michigan law enforcement officers left Lansing on Monday morning for a minimum 14-day deployment. 

The convoy included a six-member Emergency Support Team with full equipment, a mobile command vehicle with communications capability, a National Guard transport vehicle with enough supplies to sustain the officers for four days, a tactical medical unit from Life EMS Medic of Grand Rapids and a gasoline tanker from Mooney Oil Company of Flint.