Governor Quinn Sending 54 Law Enforcement Officers to Assist New Jersey

SPRINGFIELD - November 9, 2012. Governor Pat Quinn today announced 54 law enforcement officers will be deployed to New Jersey on Saturday to help local law enforcement agencies deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and this week's Nor'easter. The group includes 29 officers from the Illinois State Police (ISP) and 25 officers from law enforcement agencies in Central Illinois.

"I'm proud of Illinois' first responders who are eager and willing to help East Coast residents devastated by Hurricane Sandy," Governor Quinn said. "This will be a long recovery and we will continue to provide assistance to help our neighbors recover."

The officers will support recovery and public safety operations throughout New Jersey during their eight-day deployment.

The team will report to IEMA's headquarters in Springfield Saturday morning to receive event identification, mission and safety briefings and mobilization assistance. This process ensures the accountability and readiness of personnel and assets before departure.

Saturday's deployment will bring the number of Illinois responders sent to the East Coast to assist with hurricane response and recovery to 76. That includes fourteen emergency managers who were deployed to New York City on Nov. 1 to help with 24/7 operations in the city's emergency operations center and eight members of an Incident Management Team that left Illinois on Nov. 5. Both teams were deployed for two weeks.

All of the deployments were in response to requests from affected states through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC).

IEMA, the Illinois National Guard and other Illinois public safety agencies are standing by, ready to provide assistance in response to further EMAC requests.