State Police Get 340 Additional AEDs

mspaed
mspaed

Michigan State Police have announced the purchase of 340 automatic external defibrillators, or AEDs, for posts statewide. Using funding from MSP vacancies, the agency was able to buy the new equipment for $486,000. Lieutenant Duane Robinson with the MSP Fifth District in Benton Harbor tells WSJM News the AEDs have long been among the equipment in department vehicles, and he has personal experience with them.

“I was at a graduation in Berrien Springs right around 2015, and a gentleman fell ill,” Robinson said. “I was there, present during the ceremony, and I was able to not only administer CPR, but I was able to connect him to an AED, and it helped to save his life.”

Robinson received a lifesaving award for that incident. State police say about half of all patrol vehicles statewide will now have AEDs with the purchase of the 340 additional units. Robinson tells us most local patrols have them.

“We received approximately 46 of those devices and spread them out among our four posts in our sections that we have members assigned to.”

Robinson says the Fifth District has around 100 troopers. The use of the devices is part of standard MSP training.