By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
September 22, 2005
While gas masks and chemical protection suits sit in storage at the Greenwich Police Department, the town's police union wants to know why the town has not yet used federal funding to train officers to use the gear.
Two years ago, the state Division of Homeland Security offered police departments a $200-a-day overtime reimbursement to allow officers to attend training workshops on using specialized gear to respond to bioterrorism attacks.
Since then, the state agency has distributed thousands of chemical protection suits, gas masks and other protective equipment as it becomes available to state and local police, fire, and emergency medical agencies.
"I think the town or the chief should have gotten this training done, no matter what it took," Sgt. James Bonney, the president of the Silver Shield Association police union said. "Because this is that important."
The $200-a-day reimbursement offer was part of the 2003 homeland security grant money, however, and the opportunity to apply for it has expired.
Because the town didn't apply for the 2003 grant money on time, it should use its own funds for the training to help protect the public and officers, Bonney said. In the case of a bioterrorism attack in the region, Greenwich police might be asked to help residents exposed to anthrax or infected with contagious diseases such as smallpox.
"The department should train the officers regardless if they get free money or not," Bonney said. "They have a moral obligation to protect the guys. What good is it if the police department is infected with smallpox?"
The town has received the required gas masks and protective suits for police through the state Division of Homeland Security, officials said. But the town's 2004 homeland security grant of well over $400,000 -- which provides training money initially expected to be released this spring -- has been delayed by a more rigorous approval process applied by state administrators because Greenwich has chosen to develop its own spending plan for the money. "The feds approved what we asked for, but the state came back with a very complex and very cumbersome procedure to explain how we're using the money," Town Administrator Ed Gomeau said. "We had to redo all that in a format the state gave us."
As a condition of allowing the town to determine how to spend its grant, the state does not reimburse Greenwich if it spent money on the training, First Selectman Jim Lash said.
"We have to have their funding first," Lash said.
Greenwich Police Chief James Walters said that the money for the training has been requested, and that Gomeau and town Emergency Operations Management Coordinator Dan Warzoha were working with state officials to get the money released. Warzoha said this could be in six to eight weeks. Another obstacle has been that the masks and suits for all 157 officers arrived piecemeal and making it difficult to begin training, said Deputy Police Chief Pat Chila, who is overseeing the receipt of the equipment.
"We couldn't train with something we don't have," Chila said.
But Bonney said the town has put the public at risk by waiting so long to begin the training because of Greenwich's relative proximity to New York City, a likely target for any biological or chemical attack.
"It would be like a firefighter running into a burning building without any gear," Bonney said. "For Greenwich to say they don't have enough money to do the training is a lame excuse."
Other police departments in the area appear to be ahead of Greenwich in receiving the training.
Lt. Frank Cronin, of the Stamford Police Department's Training Division said that all but a few Stamford police officers have trained with personal protective equipment and gas masks, and that the suits have been stockpiled in each of the city's four districts in case of an emergency.
Brookfield Police Capt. Maureen Will, president of the Fairfield County Training Officers Association, said Westport, Fairfield, and New Canaan officers have all received training on the masks and suits.
Chief Tom Flaherty, executive director of the Connecticut Police Academy's Officer Standards and Training Council, said that all recruits take a 40-hour course of counter-terrorism training -- including training on personal protective equipment -- and are issued a hazmat suit upon graduation.
Many police departments have been reimbursed after they pay for the training, Flaherty said.
"Everybody recognizes the importance of it," Flaherty said.
Warzoha said that he met with state homeland security officials this week. They said that funds for the training were forthcoming, but getting all 157 police officers familiarized with the equipment and establishing policies and procedures will be a logistical challenge to town police commanders.
"It will not be an easy task," Warzoha said.
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