BELLEVUE - The difference between life and death can be a matter of just seconds, according to Bellevue Police. That's why the department lobbied for a device to help in a major emergency.
"You can lose up 2 liters of blood before you go into shock, and that happens from 30-40 seconds on a big arterial bleed, so our goal is to get it on as quickly as you can," says Officer Scott Montgomery, as he stands in a old warehouse near 405. It was here that he, and other senior officers, trained their colleagues on the use of Combat Application Tourniquets, or CAT. "That technology is just starting to make it's way back to the law enforcement world now so we're embracing that - using the techniques, technology that the guys have used over on the battlefield."
The device, with a plastic stick on it, can tighten in a hurry and cut off blood flow to a traumatized part of the body.
Montgomery says similar devices helped save lives after the shooting an at appearance by Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in 2011.
Every Bellevue Police officer will be equipped with the tourniquets starting this week. They were paid for by the Bellevue Police Foundation, at a cost of $16,000.
