ny10570

True, but outside of the occasional broken lock or cut chain BASE jumping has a very low associated crime rate. There are a few drugs out there that thanks to their addictive nature tend to drive people into desperate situations where they turn to crime to get their next fix. This isn't people who get lost snowmobiling through Yellowstone or go back country skiing and get stuck or hurt. The people who are being charged here knowingly cross the lines into uncontrolled and dangerous areas. You break the rules and get yourself into trouble there is a price to pay.

Why do they need their parents with them just because they are on the bus. Long before the days of cell phones I was riding the bee line every week at 14.

There's another all black monster running around the city but without any lettering. Last I saw it, a tow truck was hooking it up on the West Side Highway.

I'm sure is you search around the net you'll find plenty of negative articles about the Angels. They first started catching static when a few higher-ups from the group started questioning Sliwa's intentions and telling the truth about his escapades when he started sending Angels to raid crack dens. By Sliwa's own admission he made up many of the more fantastic events he claimed. The Angels didn't deter crime. They were small in numbers but big in visibility. They would tout statistics of crime reduction at a subway station or in a neighborhood but those reductions never manifested into any changes in a precinct let alone an entire borough. So what good is it stopping a mugging on 163 and Simpson if someone is going to get mugged on 163 and Intervale? The angels did cost the taxpayers plenty of money. Every time one of them got sent to the hospital we all share the burden of their health care. Had they made an actual rather than a perceived impact on crime that expense may have been worth it. Even the argument that the publicity they generated helped draw attention to the problem and focused the city on the problem doesn't work since throughout Koch's time as mayor nothing really changed. It wasn't until Dinkins was in office and he appointed Lee Brown as commissioner that crime finally began to decline with his community policing efforts. I believe it was Ray Kelly who then took over and began pushing the quality of life issues that Giuliani is so famous for. Real improvements in the city came under Giuliani when compstat began cooking numbers, PD increased its staffing by 4,000(?) cops, training for cops was improved, closed circuit tv monitoring was dramatically expanded, and a variety of crime specific programs and units were created. This type of effort and focus on policing combined with a litany of economic factors is why NYC is as safe as it is today. Not because of a McDonals managing publicity whore in a red beret.

They were never and are never effective. They just push crime form one corner to another. They haven't done crap for Philly and NYC only turned around after the police were given the support they needed to do their job.

Yep, just like 1929 when the Dow lost close to half of its value in less than a month. The stock market had been wildly inflated during the prosperity of the 20's and much of that growth had been on the backs of unsecured debt since at the time people were under the impression we had reached a level of growth that could never be lost. Take the dot com crash and spread that over the entire stock exchange and remove the safteys and checks from the system and then you could repeat 1929. The banks were crushed because there was over $8 billion loaned out just in the stock market and only about $5 billion in currency in circulation. Combined with other private debts there was 2 1/2 times more money owed than money available and this doesn't even include the national debts incurred by the gov't during WW1. Besides, depending on who you listen to, the depression was a forgone conclusion and the crash may have just been the exclamation point.

Diesel costs more but you get much better mpg and lower maintenance costs.

People can really be silly geese some times. Reminds me of the guy in Brooklyn last year that opened fire on the EMT as he approached to help him after an accident.

Yeah, 5.5% unemployment and another spike in oil suck and the housing market isn't helping anything we're far from the the Titanic scenario. The economy is still growing and wages have yet to start retreating.

In 11 years of driving I have never come upon someone who needed supplemental oxygen. I keep a couple of cans of fix-a-flat and a small first aid kit of some simple bandages, tape and band aids. I have never been left short and wanting for more. I never understood the 30lb tech bags people keep in their cars.

ltrob, since the majority of your equipment is in the back wouldn't you want to keep it out of traffic? Worst case half your crew has to step out in traffic twice if you're cab towards traffic. Always thought that was better than digging through compartments pulling potentially heavy equipment off into traffic.

Eventually it'll kill a rich white woman or a half dozen kids and then the "right" people will care. Until then good luck.

How about back the engine up a few feet and move the second bike into the Left lane. Its a minor MVA, apparently no extrication required and a nice wide shoulder to operate in. Is the second lane really necessary?

Chris how would the mailbox system be any different than calling each number directly for creating call volume? As it is, multiple callers calling the same number depending on how they describe the call and where they describe it you can get the same multiple responses generated. Often its a heads-up dispatcher that sees the similarities and consolidates it. Thats the biggest loss with consolidation. Dispatchers will no longer have the chance to learn the intricacies of their areas. The 678, 278, 95, 695, 295, and Hutch spaghetti pile or the difference between similar streets like boyton and bolton ave are problems that someone needs to deal with on a regular basis. The city is far too large for one person to learn everything they need to know, one borough is bad enough. Bronx State is still there taking up space in all its glory. The Hutchison Center that is springing up between Waters Place and the Hutch is a new development being built on pristine Bronx swamp.

Since it is technically a medication I'm sure that there is something that makes it illegal to carry around outside of an agency vehicle. But I don't see that one being enforced any time soon.

Yeah, the fine citizens of NYC don't have the greatest grasp on English or for that matter sense making obtaining reliable information difficult at best. You definitely still need service specific CRO's for further interview, first aid instructions, evacuation instructions, etc. But this mess of PD CRO's with no real training in EMS or Fire just doesn't work. So many callers don't stay on the line through the call transfer (I'd say at least half of my most serious call types are based on what PD has) we end up chasing much more BS, sends CFR's chasing garbage, and it has absolutely resulted in injury and probably has caused some deaths. At the very least a universal CRO could be given a simple algorithm that could establish a call type before transferring it the appropriate agency. Instead of "Send an ambulance! He's not Breathing!" getting CFR, ALS, and BLS when it was just a simple seizure and only needed the BLS.

I have yet to hear or read about an O2 tank casing an injury as anything other than an unrestrained object. Besides, it works for PD why wouldn't it work for you.

I'm sure they have the Id chips, but no there is no implantable lojac type device available for animals. That smallest GPS transmitters I'm aware of are probably about 1/2 pound or more and would have to be above the skin to transmit. The implantable devices are about the size of a large grain of rice and can be read with a hand scanner.

I know they make boots for K9's but other than 9/11 I've never seen them used and even then it was only on one dog that always uses them. The one fire I saw a dog used at, he got a little too close to the victim and needed some BBP. Other than that it was mostly the handler looking for the where the dog walks.

As part of NYC's emergency services communications consolidation sham Fire, PD, and EMS communications are being consolidated into two facilities. There are plans for a new facility somewhere in the Bronx within the next few years and the Brooklyn facility is either all ready built or going to be placed in a renovated Brooklyn CO. There was a new communications center built recently but I'm not sure if thats for this mess or NYC OEM. Out of many down sides hopefully this will result in a single CRO position that can handle PD, EMS, and Fire calls that can then be dispatched by PD, EMS, or Fire Dispatchers instead of this game of 20 questions that every caller has to play. Brooklyn is now in Queens and eventually I believe Manhattan will go North to the Bronx.

They really made Barny's look good. So good I'd be willing to go there if I hadn't known better. Hopefully it inspires HHC to open up Kings County or Lincoln and people can see how nuts it really can get.

Its another good tool in the tool box for a non-standard event. For example the tractor trailer fire in Ct a few months back that was knocked down from the other side of the highway with a deck gun and possibly saved the cargo in the trailer. I don't know about pissing away money for a bumper mounted gun that doesn't do the job any better than a handline and can't be used for much else.

I'd love to take this to PM, but I can't so...this wasn't an attack on a particular unit either. My comment about the BLS unit was only to explain that this wasn't ALS vs BLS. I have talked to this unit and shockingly enough he doesn't care what I think. Can you believe it?!?! Someone who doesn't care that his crap attitude is forcing other units to pick up the slack doesn't care what another EMT has to say. Their philosophy is that they work hard enough and have earned their 30 minutes minimum after every job to sit and stare in to space. My comment was absolutely accurate. As soon as they became aware of the crane collapse units came available. The only reason this damn thing is about the SOC units is because they were the ones called. If it makes you feel better a Victor unit went out no response for a seizure today but were miraculously available for the fire moments later and I'll pay closer attention tomorrow to who is dragging their feet. I don't get why you have taken such offense to this. This is common amongst ALS and BLS both when there's a good job waiting or its a late job. Its no different than when Volunteer FD's turn out one rig after 10 minutes for a automatic on Saturday afternoon but manage all rigs on the road in the same time for a working fire or VACS that can't get a bus on the road for the sick old lady but have buses on stand-by for the multiple car mva on the highway. Its the same everywhere, PD isn't exactly racing to secure doors we have kicked in and lift assists for some reason don't get the same vigorous response that working fires get. We all get tired of the mundane and crave the exciting jobs that we often spend a lot of extra time and energy training for but don't get to be a part of as often. This is not a knock or an insult on anyone but rather a comment on what really happened. If you can't deal with that then I don't know what else to say. If you were not holding signal so you could flirt with the registration clerk (or what ever other BS reason we hold signal) until you heard about the collapse then I'm even further confused by your anger.

People are getting mad at the wrong person here. firnatine didn't slam anyone or belittle the job anyone here does. Its a sad fact that many dept send guys to fires with the hope that volleys will be able to show up to get the job done. PCFD, you roll up on scene, what do you guys do until the volleys show up or god forbid the day they don't show up?? You "hook up and look up" because there isn't much you can do. Do you disagree? yes hook up and look up is an over simplification, but can you guys really start an effective initial attack and search upon arrival? They don't send you guys in with enough manpower to do the job. Thats not a secret. Its the same crap deal with every dept that runs with paid chauffeurs.

See, you've all ready gone and let your ego mess this up. Its not about EMT's vs Paramedics. The biggest offender in the Bronx is a Henry unit. This also isn't something specific to just Haz Tac units. Always got a chuckle out of hearing a unit refuse a job and then manage to get flagged or suddenly come available when they found out it was a "good" call. Now that all being said it happened at the Deutschebank Fire and again on Friday where this one particular unit was not exactly polite and very clear that they were unavailable when asked, yet suddenly became available once the dispatcher announced the MCI over the air. It was a stupid little side comment that is both accurate and not a personal attack on you and you went and made it personal. Relax and have a safe tour.