Sheriff's Deputy Steve Dellinger kissed his wife and children goodbye Wednesday morning before they headed north to avoid Hurricane Ivan. He prepared for a 12-hour patrol in Harrison County.
"I don't like it," he said. "I don't like it one bit."
"I'm not worried for myself," said Dellinger. "I'm worried because I'm not able to be with my family to protect them, and I'm not able to be at home to protect our property," the Saucier resident said.
Hundreds of first-responders and emergency medical workers across South Mississippi are in the same predicament: torn between their duties and concerns about their family's safety.
"I have no complaints about the job itself," said Dellinger. "It's what I do."
Dellinger said he was more fortunate than most public safety workers. A shift change enabled him to be off Monday to hurricane-proof his mobile home as best he could with help from his wife and 17-year-old daughter.
Tuesday night, he helped his wife pack so she could leave before noon Wednesday with his daughter and 6-year-old son. Dellinger's other children, two teenage girls, also headed north with their natural mother.
"My wife is going to drive as far north as it takes to find a hotel," he said. "She doesn't want to go all the way to Memphis, but she may have to."
Dellinger said he plans to stay focused on his job while they're away.
"One thing I will not tolerate is letting thieves steal from those who aren't here to protect their belongings," he said.
Dellinger worked his regular shift Tuesday and spent the night hours patrolling U.S. 49.
"We're on 12-hour shifts, looking out for crazy drivers and anyone whose vehicle has broken down," he said.
Today will be more of the same, he said. But what happens after Ivan makes landfall may be anything but routine.
Biloxi Police Capt. Darrin Peterson said law enforcement officers take their responsibilities seriously and they're not in the mood to deal with law-breakers during a storm-related crisis.
"I hope everybody abides by the law," said Peterson. "I'm putting my life and the lives of my men in danger."
Harrison County Sheriff's Lt. Alvin King spent Wednesday morning moving state inmates from the metal building housing the Sheriff's Work Center on Lorraine Road to the maximum-security county jail on nearby Seaway Road.
The inmates have filled several thousand sand bags for residents since Monday night.
King remained behind with several inmates to help as needed in an emergency.
"We'll head to the jail when it's no longer safe here," King said. "My kids are grown and gone. I don't mind working during a storm. Somebody's got to do it."
Louis Gomez, a registered nurse from Waveland, said it was hard to send his wife and children, ages 2 and 8, off to Louisiana after they boarded up their home.
Gomez is in charge of a special-needs shelter in Harrison County, where 28 patients and 11 caregivers had arrived by 8 a.m. Wednesday.
"As long as I know my family's safe," said Gomez, "I can do what I need to do."
