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Fayette deputies protect Gulfport

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizen.com

Eight deputies from the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department spent some time in Gulfport, Miss., this weekend helping relieve a police force that had been worn tired from their duties in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The crew helped prevent looting and the decision to go was made after a request from homeland security officials, said Lt. Col. Bruce Jordan, director of investigations for the sheriff’s office.

“They told me they got into one high-speed chase, two foot pursuits and three scuffles in one night,” Jordan said.

But they weren’t needed for long. Although they planned to stay a week, the team left Monday after the arrival of more than 1,800 military police brought in to control the area, Jordan said.

The team of deputies brought their own food, water and even their own shelter thanks to a generous donation of a camper from Big Daddy’s Cycle World, Jordan said. The sheriff’s office intended to rent the camper, but once workers there heard what it was needed for, they refused to charge the sheriff’s office, Jordan added.

The deputies also brought down 150 police shirts and pants for local police, some of whom lost their homes and had no place to wash their clothes, Jordan added.

They also got a firsthand look at what many Fayette residents only see in small scale on their television set and computer consoles: the destruction wrought by the hurricane, Jordan said.

“They said it was just devastating,” Jordan said.