Seattle (Washington) law enforcement officials knew there might be trouble when 40,000 angry protestors followed the World Trade Organization's annual conference into town in November 1999.

So they made sure that the nearly 1,000 local officers who would be deployed were trained in the latest demonstration management techniques and equipped with the best in personal protection.

Knowing tear gas and other riot-control agents likely would be needed to disperse the crowds, police department officials needed to wear gas masks. "As part of our selection process, the S.W.A.T. team field-tested a number of different masks," said Lt. Ted Jacoby, bomb squad lieutenant and respiratory protection program administrator for the Seattle police department.

"And, based on our criteria of good visibility and seal, light weight and streamlined cartridge profile, we selected MSA's Advantage® 1000 Chem-Bio/Riot Control Agent Gas Mask. It was the clear winner."

The officers and their masks were tested on the first of the four conference days, Tuesday, November 30.

Most of the protestors were peaceful and orderly, but others disrupted the WTO's opening ceremony by converging on the city's convention center, wielding large sticks, crowbars, smoke grenades, Molotov cocktails and other weapons.

Some also looted businesses, erected fences to block traffic and encircle officer, and set dumpsters on fire and pushed them into police lines.

The 135 WTO delegates were confined to their hotels. By the first night, Mayor Paul Schell imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew and declared a state of emergency. The National Guard was called in to support the city, county and state law enforcement personnel already in place.

President Clinton's arrival the next day and a confirmed report that a WTO delegate had been harassed triggered an order for safety perimeters around the convention center and hotels where WTO delegates were staying. Police force was necessary and tear gas and pepper spray were used to disperse crowds.

"Protesters were throwing gas canisters back at our officers, so they were in concentrated gas environments for four and five hours at a time," Jacoby said. "The masks provided good visibility, the officers didn't become fatigued from wearing them and the CBA-RCA filters protected them."

"That filter is designed to take eight hours of continuous contact in a riot-control agent environment. For us, it did that – and more. Some people wore the same filter for nine and ten hours before they had to replace it."

MSA also came through for the Seattle Fire Department.

"Late on Wednesday (about 7:30 p.m. EST), MSA's headquarters office (in Pittsburgh, Pa.) got an emergency request. The Seattle Fire Department needed an immediate shipment of gas mask replacement cartridges by the next morning," said Rich Morris, MSA's customer service manager.

"So we went to work, located the cartridges and got them on a plane that night. The order was waiting for the fire chief when he arrived at work at 8:00 the next morning."

Since the WTO disturbances, Lt. Jacoby has outfitted an additional 110 officers with Advantage 1000 gas masks. He said his goal is to outfit every one of the department's 1,260 officers with Advantage masks and to add MSA's ESP® Communications Systems, which allow the wearer to speak normally through the masks, yet be heard clearly.

Although 500 people were arrested and $3 million in property was damaged, no one was seriously injured or killed during the disturbances and the right of free speech was upheld. And, when situations like this call for respiratory protection for police officers, firefighters, etc., who maintain law and order, MSA is always proud to protect them.