More than 50 police officers from throughout the state headed to New Jersey this weekend to support recovery and public safety operations following Hurricane Sandy.

Local law enforcement officers deploying are from the following departments: Fairview Heights police, Granite City police, Highland police, Madison County Sheriff's Office, O'Fallon police and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Police.

The officers were scheduled to leave Saturday from the State Emergency Operations Center in Springfield. Four Illinois State Police officers left on Friday.

The officers will support recovery and public safety operations throughout New Jersey during their eight-day deployment.

This deployment is in response to a request from New Jersey through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, the nation's state-to-state mutual aid system. The compact coordinates the assistance needs of states affected by disasters with available resources from unaffected states to support response and recovery efforts.