When animals attack … South Bend, Indiana Flea edition
From the SouthBend Tribune …
Most days South Bend police officers go up against such adversaries as robbers, thieves and vandals.
They probably never thought they’d have to go up against fleas.
Patrolman Paul Strabavy was the first to notice the “brown and black” fleas while walking out of the house.
“They were all over the place — in our socks and even in our shorts,” Stuart said. “It was disgusting.”
It was the third time this year Strabavy has been called to a vacant house on the northwest side for a burglary and ended up with fleas
To avoid infesting their squad cars, the police station or family members, the officers went through a “flea decontamination process.”
A van was called to Fremont to take them back to the station, where they changed outside.
Cpl. Will Johnson provided flea/lice shampoo and soap, so the officers could shower at the station.
As many as seven officers spent time on the case.
“That killed the whole shift,” said Sgt. Chuck Stokes, who was the supervisor on scene. “It takes several hours to take care of the problem.
“The guys were very angry. The last thing they wanted to deal with was fleas.”
Stuart said there are more important things officers need to be concerned with when patrolling the streets, especially when seven were involved in this call and there are typically only 18 to 21 officers patrolling the entire city at a given time.
Stokes hopes an officer will not have to go through this again, but acknowledged it will probably happen.
“It can come up at any time,” he said. “We have to check the houses to see if there are any possible victims in the home.”
“Something needs to be done about it,”
long-vacant houses do not usually have a constant food source that draws in bugs.
Most houses with insect invasions are either occupied or have been only recently vacated
Nelson said it is possible that homeless people staying in vacant houses from time to time could bring insects such as lice and fleas.
“Fleas can jump from a couch to a person walking by,”
“I don’t know if that’s a threat to public health, but it’s a threat to the individuals who enter the home,”
Nelson would advise officers to use precautions when entering a possibly infested house, such as wearing boot coverings and a hair covering.
He said officers are welcome to contact the Health Department for further guidance or to accompany them if they believe a house is infested.
“I don’t ever want to go inside a vacant home again,”