The Fanwood Police Department unveiled a new layer of protection for its officers on Monday – not from bullets or blunt objects, but from microbes, smoke and other potentially dangerous airborne particles. 

At a small, late-morning press conference in the meeting room of Borough Hall, Mayor Colleen Mahr joined John Schwind, CEO of the New Jersey-based company Global Safety First, in presenting Police Chief Richard Trigo 100 disposable, hypoallergenic face-masks called "Readi Masks." The devices, no thicker than two or three playing cards stuck together, are comprised of breathable, bright-yellow fabric that meets the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health's N95 certification, meaning that they filter at least 95 percent of airborne particles. The masks are awaiting final approval from NIOSH. 

"I am proud to be the first town in New Jersey to offer this level of protection to our police officers," Mahr said in a press release distributed at the event. "It is of the utmost importance to us that our force remains on the cutting edge when it comes to safety." 

Each mask, packaged in a square aluminum pouch, is lined with a thin layer of adhesive around the edges to fully seal a wearer's nose and mouth from the outside. The masks can fit inside most pockets alongside a pair of disposable gloves or other equipment. And as demonstrated by Officer Nicholas Mauro during the press conference, they can be applied in about 10 to 15 seconds.  

"This is what makes it excellent," Trigo said after Mauro donned one of the masks. "He doesn't need to run out to his car for a breathing apparatus. It's a temporary fix, but it buys him some time." 

Mauro later added, "It's easy to breathe through, and it didn't leave any residue on my face. It's a level of protection."

The products, released in December 2010, cost $2.49 per unit, for a total cost of $249 that was paid by Fanwood's emergency management budget, Mahr said. The masks have an official shelf-life of five years, but Schwind said they had been age-tested for a life-expectancy of up to 12 years. 

Trigo said that the masks have real-world application, and would have made a difference during a series of medical incidents in 2008.

"A facility on South Avenue was running rampant with the flu virus, and we were frequently going in there with regular medical masks that weren't with a complete seal," Trigo said. "A third of the department was out sick as a result. For a small department, a third weighs heavily on manpower." He later added, "If they had something like this on," pointing to a packaged Readi Mask, "something like this could have helped them in the short-term." 

Following the press conference, Schwind gave Trigo a cardboard box containing the 100 masks. Mahr said that the devices will undergo a six-month evaluation period with Fanwood, at which point the police department and borough will decide whether to invest further in the masks, such as by expanding the inventory or offering them to other emergency workers.

For a video of the mask being used to repel pepper spray – a demonstration that was previously recorded and did not occur at the press conference – click the video thumbnail at right.