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Twin Cities officers leave for hurricane zone Posted on Wed, Sep. 14, 2005 Twin Cities officers leave for hurricane zone BY RUBEN ROSARIO Pioneer Press Page 1 of t Armed with weapons, suppiies and loads of goodwiii, an 80-member detail of Twin Cities cops left this morning for New Orleans and other areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina to help counterparts there keep the peace and assist in rescue and possibly body recovery efforts. "We received a call — that an officer needs help in New Orleans — and if you wear a badge, you want to respond to that officer," said Minneapoiis Police Assistant Chief Tim Dolan, using the common cop distress signal as a metaphor for the city's commitment to the hurricane reiief effort. Twenty-two St. Paul cops and 21 officers from Minneapoiis comprise the bulk of the Twin Cities detail, which also includes police from Bloomington, Ramsey County, Rosevilie and Mapiewood. It is expected to arrive by noon Friday in New Orleans and the volunteers will summarily be sworn in as peace officers in that city and Louisiana. The Minnesota cops will be under the command of Minneapolis Police Lt. Otto Wagenpfeil, a veteran cop who also serves as the police departmenYs homeland security liaison. "We're theirs," Wagenpfeil said of the New Orleans police's Tacticai Division. "Checking houses, looking for victims, doing street patrol, whatever they need... even to let them get some sieep." Wagenpfeil also has a personal connection to the Big Easy: he's a New Orieans native and former paramedic there whose elderly mother, a nursing home resident, underwent heart-reiated surgery just days before the hurricane struck the city. She was among the thousands evacuated and being cared for at an outiying medical facility, 1u�� tix-�K ixieoura�eni� � http:r'r'+r�v+��,1 r��i �c i t:��,c�m�mld�pi�nccrprc�sf l�l}�}� "��t�, htm`�i�mpl a�-�to-itLcna �lo�z�l��r'pri ��i�i�, i°y� ..j... t� ��l}.�� [�[i�