Equipping police patrol cars with automated external defibrillators (AEDs) significantly increases survival rates for out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests.
Why AEDs Belong in Patrol Cars
- First on scene: Police officers are often dispersed throughout communities and routinely arrive at medical emergencies 3 to 7 minutes before fire or EMS units.
- Beating the clock: Survival rates for sudden cardiac arrest drop by 7% to 10% for every minute that passes without CPR or defibrillation.
- High-risk profession: Law enforcement officers face elevated risks of cardiac events due to high-stress work environments, shift work, and physical demands, making car-mounted AEDs critical for protecting officers as well as the public.
- Ease of use: Modern units (such as those from ZOLL Medical, Stryker, and Avive) provide automated voice prompts, visual instructions, and real-time CPR feedback, allowing lay-rescuer officers to deliver care safely under Good Samaritan protections.
Program Adoption and Impact
- Growing deployment: Many local, county, and state agencies—such as the Fort Worth Police Department, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, and the New Jersey State Police—have moved to equip 100% of their marked cruisers with AED units through municipal budgets or public-private partnerships (like the American Heart Association).
- Survival rates: Studies show that communities with police AED programs see cardiac arrest survival rates jump significantly, in some cases approaching 60%.
Our Lebanon Police Division and Warren County Sheriff's Department each have only a small number of cruisers equipped with AED devices. The proceeds of the Lebanon Optimist Bourbon Festival will be directed to purchasing as many of these devices as possible for our local law enforcement agencies. Each device costs around $2500.
