In September, United States Attorney General Eric Holder spoke at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference. “To save lives, the first officers to arrive must sometimes be the ones to directly engage an active shooter,” Holder said. “That’s why all law enforcement officers must have the best equipment and most up-to-date training to confront these situations. We owe these officers nothing less.”  With the recent tragedies of the Boston Marathon bombings and ensuing manhunt, and the Newtown school shootings, it has become imperative for law enforcement to strive for solutions on how to better prepare and prevent these events. 

With this being said, the Smithfield Police Department is proud to announce the addition of a new piece of equipment, which will better prepare its officers for incidents such as the ones mentioned by A.G. Holder. The Smithfield Police Department’s “Bail Out Bag” is a small bag supplied with less commonly used items that may be of great benefit during incidents that fall outside the officer’s normal workload. The bags are designed to be readily accessible to responding officers who may find themselves in an active shooter scenario, prolonged perimeter position, or any incident that would require immediate action without the necessary time to return to the patrol vehicle for additional gear.  Often times this type of equipment is issued to SRT or SWAT units, or an individual officer supplies him or herself.  However, in an effort to properly prepare their officer’s for whatever situation may arise, the Smithfield Police Department is providing all 41 sworn officers with their own bag.

Contents of the Bail Out Bag include, Tactical Wedge-It door stops, Milspec Cobra Cuff disposable restraints, chemical light sticks, and paracord. In addition all officers were supplied with several medical supplies crucial in combat casualty care. Each Bail Out Bag contains two Olaes Modular Bandages, one SOF Tactical tourniquet, one Halo chest seal, and two packages of Z-Pak gauze. All items chosen for the bag were selected after extensive research and consulting with various Law Enforcement, Military, and Medical professionals. 

In addition to the Bail Out Bags, all 41 members of the Smithfield Police Department were provided Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) training. During this training, officers were trained on how to implement the medical supplies issued in order to treat severe blood loss, as well as various other common life threatening injuries that could occur during a critical incident. Sgt. Ryan Duffy of the Newport Police Department conducted training for the Smithfield Police Department in October of 2013. In an effort to maintain proficiency, continuing education through online training will be completed by members of the department.

It is the vision of the Smithfield Police Department “To be recognized as the most professional, well respected, highly trained, proactive, community-oriented law enforcement agency in Rhode Island.” With the addition of the Bail Out Bag’s and TCCC training, the Smithfield Police Department is proving that they are constantly striving towards their goals within the community. 

For further information on the Bail Out Bags, contact Captain Robert Eaton of the Smithfield Police Department at 401-231-2500 ext. 103.