Nahant cop completes Homeland Security training

NAHANT – A Nahant police officer just returned from the most intensive training of his career.Officer Armand Conti, who has been with the department since 1992, recently completed the Homeland Security training at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston, Ala.”It was the most physically intense and most intensive training I’ve ever attended,” Conti said. “I’ll probably never have to use it. I hope I never have to use it but these days you have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”Conti, who is the liaison to the U.S. Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security for the town, said the five-day training focused on police response to weapons of mass destruction incidents.”We learned how to respond to incidents involving nuclear, chemical and biological weapons,” he said. “We were actually suited up and actually exposed to nerve agents – that’s how you learn how the equipment works.”The training was conducted at the Chemical Ordnance Biological and Radiological (COBRA) Training Facility in Alabama, which is the only facility in the country that offers civilian training exercises in a toxic environment using chemical agents.”It was the most intensive and realistic training I’ve ever received,” he said. “In one scenario a courtroom was hit with a dirty bomb. We had to suit up and go into the environment. We had to remove two hostile perpetrators and then treat and triage people in a contaminated crime scene.”Conti said wearing full body enclosure suits with air packs was brutal in the humid heat of Alabama.”We were soaking wet inside these suits,” he said. “There were guys dropping out because of the physical stresses associated with the training. It was the toughest training I’ve ever taken.”The CPD is operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency and is the only federally charted Weapons of Mass Destruction training facility in the country. The CDP provides interdisciplinary training that is federally funded, for emergency responders from 10 different responder disciplines including emergency management, emergency medical service, fire service, hazardous materials and law enforcement.Conti said he the training was well worth it.”It was very practical,” he said. “Once you receive this training you know you can go in, do your job and survive.”