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My name is Rich and I've been working at the Altoona Hospital Police Department for 13 years. I am a father of 3 boys, ages 7, 4 and 2 months. My youngest was born Oct 17th and had open heart surgery at 2 weeks old. He needs 2 more, one in Jan and another at 18 to 24 months. Although he had major surgery, he is doing great.
My department has 23 fulltime officers and we are a 24 hour department. We conduct our own investigations and make our own arrests. Our calls range from escorting an employee or visitor to their vehicle to sexual assaults and every other crime in between. We have approximately 100 CCTV cameras operating 24hrs a day. We are all armed with 9mm Berettas. Reason being, we had an ex-employee that was fired threatening to come in and wipe out employees and administration. We also had some incidents where mental health patients came into the hospital armed with knives and guns threatening people. And with today’s workplace violence its a good thing we are. We are also in the middle of obtaining Tasers; all we have to do is get them passed by the hospital board. We get into a lot of physical altercations with mental health patients drunks and drug overdoses. The only weapons we have are our hands and our guns with nothing in between. We use our hands a lot which in a few cases officers have been hurt seriously. I had my kneecap dislocated which requires surgery, I was kicked by a drug dealer from Philly that OD'd on his own product, he was 6'2" and weight 325 (I'm 5'9 and 200). Another officer had his shoulder dislocated and has been off for 1 1/2 years after having 3 surgeries. We believe that the tasers would greatly reduce officer injuries. I look forward to conversing with you all. Stay safe.
My department has 23 fulltime officers and we are a 24 hour department. We conduct our own investigations and make our own arrests. Our calls range from escorting an employee or visitor to their vehicle to sexual assaults and every other crime in between. We have approximately 100 CCTV cameras operating 24hrs a day. We are all armed with 9mm Berettas. Reason being, we had an ex-employee that was fired threatening to come in and wipe out employees and administration. We also had some incidents where mental health patients came into the hospital armed with knives and guns threatening people. And with today’s workplace violence its a good thing we are. We are also in the middle of obtaining Tasers; all we have to do is get them passed by the hospital board. We get into a lot of physical altercations with mental health patients drunks and drug overdoses. The only weapons we have are our hands and our guns with nothing in between. We use our hands a lot which in a few cases officers have been hurt seriously. I had my kneecap dislocated which requires surgery, I was kicked by a drug dealer from Philly that OD'd on his own product, he was 6'2" and weight 325 (I'm 5'9 and 200). Another officer had his shoulder dislocated and has been off for 1 1/2 years after having 3 surgeries. We believe that the tasers would greatly reduce officer injuries. I look forward to conversing with you all. Stay safe.
, who was bringing in a looney-toon, (what we call in California a 5150 W&I, or more politically correct, a mental hold.) 
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