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How to disinfect police duty gear after a potential coronavirus exposure

To stay healthy and protect your family, you should disinfect your duty gear and uniform after each shift

As a cop, you face all kinds of trouble on the streets, but today, there is a new enemy out there: COVID-19.

By now, you have received instructions on how to keep yourself safe when dealing with the public and taking calls for service; however, you may not know how to disinfect your duty gear after contact with a known or potentially infected person.

Step one is to develop a mindset of survival – not unlike the mindset you already have for dealing with the everyday rigors of police work on the streets. The only difference now is that the bad guy is microscopic and very contagious. So prepare yourself for this fight. If you have the proper “tools” in your proverbial toolbox, use them. Those tools may include hand sanitizer, disinfectant spray and masks. However, what should you do when those “tools” aren’t available? You improvise. For example, if you don’t have a mask, use a bandana or t-shirt. No hand sanitizer? Make some with alcohol and Aloe Vera gel.

You can stay healthy, and you can protect your family from the coronavirus at the same time. One of your responsibilities is to disinfect your uniform and duty gear after each shift. The following video details what to do when you need to decontaminate your gear, your uniform and yourself.

Ron Lyons served many years as a Dallas, Texas, area police officer. During his career, Ron specialized in drug interdiction and DWI enforcement and served in many roles, including K-9 handler, field training officer and drug interdiction specialist. In 1996, Ron set the federal record for the largest single seizure of cocaine in the eastern district. Having graduated Valedictorian of his police academy, Ron continued this trend by earning numerous commendations and awards throughout his career. Currently, he is a writer and the owner of Lyons Tactical & Survival Supply and host of the Lyons Tactical Radio Show on iTunes and Amazon Alexa. When Ron isn’t working, he enjoys spending as much time as possible with his family, racing cars and writing music.

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