JOPLIN, Mo. —
Capt. Mike Wood and his squad of Kansas City police officers were eating dinner at a Joplin restaurant in the days following the May 22 tornado.
They were taken aback when the families eating at the tables next to them, after learning they were from the Kansas City Police Department, stood up and began applauding them. Later, Wood discovered that several of the families were tornado victims.
It doesn’t take much time traveling the streets of Joplin to notice the presence of the KCPD. The officers have performed several duties during their time in Joplin. In the days following the tornado, they were charged with securing St. John’s Regional Medical Center; they were a large presence during President Barack Obama’s visit to the community; and they have also worked traffic control around two structure fires. Wood said that he told his officers to be prepared to do anything that was asked of them.
“I told everybody, we’re here to help. If they need us to guard the outhouses, that’s what we’re going to do.”
After the enormity of the damage created by the EF-5 tornado was assessed, the call for assistance went out across the state of Missouri. The Kansas City Police Department responded by sending an entire traffic squad and a full tactical team to Joplin. According to Wood, the last time the KCPD sent officers to another city was in 1999 when officers traveled to St. Louis to assist with security for a visit by Pope John Paul II. The KCPD has rotated its traffic squads and tactical teams between Kansas City and Joplin on five-day intervals. Woods said some 95 officers have served in Joplin.
When his officers arrived, they could understand the reason for their unprecedented deployment.
“The devastation is something that none of us have ever dealt with,” he said.
Despite the destruction, Wood was surprised by the attitudes of Joplin’s residents.
“The overwhelming thing that everyone notices is the good spirits of the people down here,” he said. “We’ve been treated great by the other police departments and the highway patrol, but the people have been fantastic. It’s weird to see how well the people treat us when they’re dealing with all the stuff that they’re dealing with.”
Sgt. Kurt Schmidt, whose tactical squad from Kansas City is serving its second tour in Joplin, said he has been surprised by the gratitude his team has received.
“I’ve had more thanks in the time I’ve been down here than I have in the 21 years that I’ve been a police officer in Kansas City,” he said. “That’s not to say I’ve never been thanked, but almost everybody you run into is thanking you. We’ve been awestruck at how thankful people are,” Schmidt said.
According to Cpl. Chuck Niess, the Joplin Police Department is still compiling the number of officers and departments that assisted in the days following the tornado.
Wood said the devastation in Joplin should give pause to emergency planners in other urban areas.
“We always plan for stuff like this, but I don’t think anybody’s ever planned for anything of this size,” he said. “Maybe we’ve got to change our thought of what we need to prepare for, but there will be a lot of lessons learned because of how this was handled and how well it was handled by everybody involved.”
Schmidt is humble when he assesses his team’s efforts. He says that while his officers weren’t performing the dramatic search and rescue duty, they still contributed to the recovery effort.
“We haven’t done anything glamorous,” he said. “But even the smallest chores need to be done.”
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