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www.officer.com MAY 2017 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY 19 Circle 12 on Reader Service Card Remove the water 1953 County Street, East Taunton MA 02718 USA (800)822-4744 or (508)822-7330 / Email: info@jwfishers.com / www.jwfishers.com Simulated drowning victim - Low cost, single or dual frequency towfish - 500' (150m) depth capability - Simple to operate, "turn key" system - Up to 2,000' (600m) range on each side - Displays sonar images on a laptop or tablet - Store files (XTF format) - In use by public safety dive teams worldwide with the help of JW Fishers Side Scan Sonar! than proactive, setting up a large siren through the dispatch center just before the storm hit. "The city was hosting state rodeo finals that weekend, too, which also meant that we had an extra 1,000 people in town," he says. "We had an extra two officers patrolling the area, but all we could do was watch and hope for the best." In the end, 54 homes were affected and 20 were demolished, but no lives were lost, Harbaugh reports. In less than 2 hours, 19 agen- cies from other locations were on the scene and a barrier was set up around the damaged areas. "It was a huge eye opener for us because we were unprepared for a natural disas- ter," says Harbaugh. "This event was unprecedented." The biggest challenges, in Harbaugh's eyes, were the limited resources and the influx of other agen- cies. "We live and operate in an area with a sparse population and so when we had additional agencies here, we had to all work together. Meanwhile, we had community members looking to us for volunteer opportunities right away and we didn't have anything for them to do because we had to make sure it was even safe to start clearing debris." A Facebook page was ultimately set up to let the community know what was happening and as a space for volunteers to connect. Though the tornado was unexpected for the Fallon County Sheriff 's Office, some agencies in the U.S. respond to disasters on a regular basis and have found success with an emergency noti- fication system. The tornado to hit Baker, Mont., in 2016 was an eye-opener for first responders in the area. Photo cour tesy of Sherif f Trenton Harbaugh