In Storm-Tossed State, Guardians Are Also Victims

With drivers lined up for blocks seeking water and ice, police officer Joe Hart prepared Wednesday to stand for a long time.

He was tired from directing traffic and keeping order at a gas station while working a 12-hour shift on Tuesday and dealing with the stresses of having no power at his home.

Now, Hart braced for flared tempers outside an emergency supplies distribution center as he began another 12-hour shift and readied himself for working many more long days to come.

“I’ll go on for as long as it takes,” said Hart, 37. “You just have to keep a good attitude and condition yourself.”

Hundreds of Palm Beach County police officers and deputies are finding themselves in similar predicaments: having to blend the strain of patrolling their communities with the anxiety of tending to their damaged homes. Although patrolling in post-hurricane conditions is far from simple, Palm Beach County has remained largely civil, easing pressures on law enforcement.

Police are used to working 12-hour shifts, but not for days at a time without breaks. Many police departments have prepared their officers for the possibility of working 12 hours on, 12 hours off on consecutive days for a week or more.

But some relief is on the way. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said 200 deputies from other parts of Florida would begin arriving in the county early today to supplement local law enforcement efforts. The deputies would assist Bradshaw’s force of 1,300 deputies.

The sheriff said the visitors would be deployed to handle security at distribution sites, relieving deputies in unincorporated areas and police officers in cities, towns and villages. He said others would help get the supply trucks to their locations and help with traffic control.

“You’ll see a lot of enhancement in terms of traffic,” Bradshaw said.

For many officers, though, fatigue and frustration have already set in.

“My fences are down, there is damage to the roof; that’s what the family tells me anyway,” said Officer Karl Seifel, a traffic-homicide investigator for West Palm Beach. “The toughest part about all of this is just not being able to talk with your family. Here you are trying to focus on work and you know there are things at home you also need to be dealing with.”

Like the majority of West Palm Beach’s officers, Seifel, a married father of five, said he’s had only sporadic conversations with his family since Sunday, when the force rode out the storm inside the downtown police station. When the storm passed, units were dispatched to all parts of the city to assess the damage.

Officers saw toppled trees, blown-out windows and crushed vehicles.

For these officers, the damage to their homes immediately took a back seat.

“We don’t live in protective shields,” said patrol officer Craig Lemanowicz. “Everybody is real tired. Everybody wants to go home. Everybody has family to take care of.

“But we’re here to comfort everyone else, so we go out and try to put on a happy face.”

At the sheriff’s office station west of Boca Raton, Deputy Darren Karp, 32, looked like he could barely keep his eyes open. He’s slept for five or so hours each night since Sunday, when he began working consecutive days.

“I’m going on adrenaline right now,” he said.

He rode out the storm keeping the emergency room doors at West Boca Medical Center from blowing out in the wind.

Back home, his roof and patio are damaged and shrubs and trees are all over the place. But he hasn’t thought too much about that.

“I’m concentrating on my job right now. This is a job I chose to have,” Karp said.