Police to Be Issued Gunshot Trauma Kit

The Oxnard Police Department will be the first law enforcement agency in Ventura County to provide trauma kits to its officers.

The kit, which will be issued to each officer, is designed to treat officers injured by a gunshot wound or to treat profuse bleeding. The kits can provide lifesaving assistance to officers during the critical moments between suffering a gunshot or puncture wound and the arrival of medical help.

“We hope we never have to use the kits,” Police Chief Art Lopez said. “But I believe it gives the officers an added sense of confidence that if something traumatic happens in the field, they will have one more piece of equipment that can help save their partner’s life.”

The Townson Law Enforcement Trauma Shooting Kit was developed by emergency physicians and paramedics to provide proper first-aid treatment for a bullet wound or other injury that causes serious bleeding. Emergency medical experts say the kits will provide major help in saving the life of a wounded officer by allowing immediate first aid from a fellow officer.

Each kit will contain rubber gloves, scissors and surgical pads, along with Vaseline-coated pads to treat chest wounds and large sterile pads to treat chest trauma, Assistant Police Chief Tom Cady said.

“The kits are issued to each officer as part of his or her personal equipment,” Cady said. “It allows the officers to treat a shooting or puncture wound by applying a compress and sealing a wound until paramedics or other medical help arrives.”

Officers may also use the kits to provide emergency assistance to an injured civilian at their own discretion, Cady said. Gold Coast Ambulance, St. John’s Regional Medical Center Foundation and the law firm of Nordman, Cormany, Hair & Compton donated the money to the Oxnard Police Foundation to purchase the kits.