ITHACA, NY (WSKG) – New gas masks acquired by Olean police should allow them to search meth labs more safely.
Tom Dinki/Olean Times Herald
Olean Police Capt. Mike Marsfelder demonstrates the Olean Police Department’s new gas masks.
Without masks, Police Chief Jeff Rowley says they’d have to rely upon New York’s state police to execute Olean’s search warrants.
“Should there have been a spill,” Rowley said, “or something bad happen during the search warrant; we didn’t want to have them be exposed to these chemicals.”
Exposure to the chemicals can cause breathing difficulties, headaches, nausea, eye damage and other symptoms. Some have been associated with cancer, birth defects, and death.
As heroin use declines, Rowley says the popularity of meth is rising and it’s now the top drug problem faced by Olean’s police.