BATON ROUGE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 36
East Hanover Local 227 members and Baton Rouge officers unload the truck
after it arrived in Louisiana.
38
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ SEPTEMBER 2016
ple of years for law enforcement.”
“When our guys got shot and killed, it felt like, even before then
when the shooting happened and in the politics of it all … I felt
like we were alone in the world,” King recalled telling Novalis.
The help continued even after the New Jersey officers returned
to East Hanover. Novalis arrived at work to find a stack of checks
on his desk from fellow officers. Concurrently, he learned from
another contact in Baton Rouge, Brandon Blust, that building
supplies also were needed.
“We still had money coming in. I said ‘I’m not going to let that
go to waste,’” Novalis attested.
Searching out a building supply company, Novalis ordered a
truckload of materials to be sent to the officers that included drywall, joint compound and screws. The shipment was delivered in
early September.
“You can imagine from the devastation of the flood that you’re
ripping out your walls,” Novalis described.
Louisiana is all too familiar with the long-term aftermath of
large-scale water damage. Even a small amount of water can
cause mold to develop, and “sick building syndrome” became
commonplace following Katrina. Homeowners frequently developed health problems due to a multitude of other toxic compounds.
“Everything kind of grinds to a halt,” King said of the fallout
after a natural disaster. “Everything slows.” He estimated that it’ll
be a year of work before the officers’ homes and lives are fully restored.
Arriving in Baton Rouge was when the officers from New Jersey
realized “all of the driving and all of the effort to get down there
was going to be well worth it,” Novalis said.
Three years ago, the Civic Association was formed with the goal
of supporting local charities and local programs in the East Hanover area, Novalis noted. The group has since branched out, and
now sends about 20 care packages per year to a platoon stationed
in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Looking back, Novalis said he was amazed they were able to
accomplish all that they did for the Baton Rouge officers in only
one week, adding that it was an effort by the entire East Hanover
law enforcement community and not just the seven who took the
out-of-state road trip. And they were lucky to have the funds from
past fundraising efforts to pack a truck on such short notice.
Novalis said one of the best moments for him came when he
finally got to “shake the hands of the members of the Baton Rouge
Police Department, saying that ‘We have their back.’”
“You can feel like sometimes that you’re on an island when
something like this happens,” Novalis said. “They needed to know
that, even though we were 1,300 miles away, and we’re a tiny little
police department, we were thinking of them and we were able to
put this operation together to help them out.
“The mission was a success,” he said. d