Job properly finished
On Tuesday night, Jan. 6, {an electrical} transformer exploded on the Essex County Sheriff’s Division Middleton Jail and Home of Correction, leading to a small hearth however with intensive injury to {the electrical} system contained in the 240-Constructing, our largest housing facility.
This triggered the rapid evacuation of 407 inmates from 4 separate models, a lot of which, resulting from their classification standing, mustn’t work together with each other. This incident, a significant security and safety concern for employees and inmates alike, demanded an instantaneous and collaborative response by not solely these on shift that night but additionally by these responding to our requires help. As Sheriff, I’m proud to say that the officers and employees on the Essex County Sheriff’s Division did an exemplary job of sustaining security and order on the facility amidst a really chaotic scene.
Inside just some minutes, everybody was safely evacuated and relocated to different buildings inside the campus. Whereas issues actually might have been worse, just one minor damage was reported by an inmate who was handled at a neighborhood hospital and rapidly launched again to our custody.
The success that night was a results of the professionalism, diligence, and dedication to responsibility as proven by our officers and employees. From the Shift Commander all the way down to the junior officer on shift to these responding from dwelling, everybody stepped up as wanted, leaping into motion with out hesitation or doubt about what wanted to be finished. The Sheriff’s Division’s dedication to pondering “exterior the field” by figuring out issues earlier than they happen, pre-planning for the unknown, and coaching its employees to reply safely and successfully to conditions like what occurred on Jan. 6 was actually mirrored within the response by our officers and employees.
A particular thanks additionally goes out to the Middleton Hearth Division for his or her fast and efficient actions in containing the explosion and hearth.
I supply all of them a heartfelt thanks for a job properly finished. They every deserve an incredible quantity of gratitude for coping with a really troublesome and doubtlessly harmful state of affairs. And for the 34 communities that we serve, they’ll relaxation assured that the Essex County Sheriff’s Division will proceed to serve them properly.
Kevin F. Coppinger
Essex County Sheriff
