In order to ensure officers are better equipped to save lives, the Logansport Police Department is looking to replace defective, decade-old defibrillators in patrol cars.
The devices are used to treat cardiac arrest by externally delivering a therapeutic dose of electricity to a victim’s chest.
The police department currently has five defibrillators, three of which are defective. Chief of Police Mike Clark said they are around 10 years old and have broken down after being used multiple times.
The plan discussed at a recent Logansport Public Safety Committee meeting was to trade in the five devices for six new ones, bringing the total cost to $12,361.
“Since we have six patrol cars on the roads at all times, the goal is to have one in each car,” Clark said. “They’ve been used many times to save lives here in the community.”
Committee members supported the initiative.
“It’s a public safety issue and something we need to address,” committee member Joe Buck said.
Clark said he was confident Logansport Memorial Hospital would continue its practice of replacing the electrodes on the devices, priced at $120 per set.
“If they get called there, they’d have to use them anyway,” Clark said.
The measure will be addressed at the next City Council meeting March 4.
Normally measures brought before the council require two votes at two separate meetings, but committee member Bob Bishop expressed a desire to fast-track it. In order for this to happen, the council would have to vote unanimously to suspend the two-vote rule and then there would have to be a two-thirds majority on the measure itself in order for it to pass.
Citing the urgency of having the devices in all patrol cars on the road, committee member Charlie Hastings said he was in favor of fast-tracking the measure as well.
“I don’t know why anyone in their right mind we be against that,” Hastings said.
Predicting support from the rest of the council, committee members advised Clark to prepare to order the devices, which he said would arrive in two to three weeks.
Mitchell Kirk is a staff reporter at the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at 574-732-5130 or mitchell.kirk@pharostribune.com.
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