Morden Police Service safer now thanks to Morden Thrift Store donation

Last week, the Morden Thrift Store gave out $268,000 to community organizations. Morden Police Service received $15,000 for a piece of equipment which will keep officers safer while serving the community. 

Police Chief Brad Neduzak said the Patron is a remote breaching tool. 

"Our patrol members, as well as our tactical team members, currently have access to a Manual Ram for instances where a door must be opened in an emergency or during a tactical operation. Currently the Morden Police Service has five of the Manual Rams in each police cruiser, which is used to gain access to residents or buildings in emergency medical situations or fires and the manual ram is somewhat limited in its application."

He noted, right now, officers use manual rams to open doors, not always knowing what is behind them and depending on the door, it can take several blows to be successful.  

There are other benefits to the upgrade.  

"They (Manual Rams) can only be used on a normal inward opening door that needs to be pushed inwards. The Manual Ram, they are quite heavy and often cause officers using them to become quite exhausted after a period of time. So, with the increase in technology, there is a company, and a tool called the Patron, which is a lighter version of a Manual Ram and can be operated by remote control. This Ram can be used by an officer and can open almost any door, safe, or a trunk on a vehicle." 

He explained how this will be particularly useful for the Tactical Team.  

"It's a huge safety factor for our officers too, because these items are set up in the door and then the officers are able to stand aside rather than being right in the line of the door and continue to try and enter the door. With a Manual Ram, you're always in that line unfortunately. This way, it can be set up and used remotely, off to the side where officers can be at a safe distance. It's very similar to the jaws of life that the fire department uses, but there's a little bit of a different application to it." 

The cost of the Patron was just over the $15,000 granted by the Thrift Store and Neduzak is grateful for the money.  

"We're very much appreciative to the community thrift store that continues to be very supportive, funding for our service to help us out. Everybody has tight budgets these days and these types of equipment allow us to do our jobs a little better and a little safer for our officers and for our community."