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AFD does not stay in their own neighborhood, I have seen them all over the East Bronx, from top to bottom, in the South Bronx, and I have seen them up on the Hutch by the Westchester line, they just hop in their rig and ride around the Bronx, buffing jobs. I heard from several people, that when AFD shut down after 9/11, it seems a couple of them banded together and formed the "Volunteer Bronx Fire Patrol". They would ride around and buff jobs in an privately registered SUV (not any volley rig, but a personal car)) that had flashing lights and cheap stickers marking it as the "Bronx Volunteer Fire Patrol". I encountered two of them at a vehicle accident, maybe five years ago or so- ( I am NYPD and was operating at the accident) and, never having heard of the "Bronx Fire Patrol" ( I am also a former member of the New York Fire Patrol,) so l wondered who they were. They got out of the rig, and without asking the NYPD or FDNY what was happening, they just started directing traffic. The did this without asking NYPD or FDNY, or even telling us so that we might coordinate efforts. I asked them a couple of simple questions, like "who are you guys-who sent you here? and I received no satifactory answer, other than ...."Uhh"..."who" "what"...."daba daba"... and related comments. I went over to a Battalion aide and asked if he knew who they were, he said he had seen them at jobs before, but did not know who they were. With that, it seemed that as soon as I turned my back, they hopped into their SUV and left the scene before I could ask any more questions.. I said to myself that the next time I saw them, I would make it so that they would receive many summones (or arrest) and impound the car. I was transferred shortly after that to another assignment that took me out of the area, I regret not taking the time out that day to go track down the SUV and put it on paper.

It is ironic that the day after the City lawmakers propose the residency law, that NYPD Police Officer Peter Figoski of the 75 Precinct is Killed in the Line of Duty. P.O. Figoski was a resident of Babylon, Long Island.

I do not know much about Verplanck but the Montrose and Buchanan Firehouses are probably less than a mile away and are on the same street. How were they ever separate departments to begin with? If one looked around, there are more than a few towns and villages that would be more efficient merging. This would include FD's, PD's, DPW's and school districts. But, as another poster stated, everyone needs their own kingdom.

A bit of a reverse of what became of the Firehouse, this is more of "what became a Firehouse". I am trying to find a photo of it from back then, but the present day Carmel Fire House was originally a Grand Union Supermaket. It was a supermaket until the late '60s. The Department bought it and converted it in the mid to late '70s to what it is today.

Ride it in your own backyard.

Many Police Departments want the officers to pay attention to traffic and the spectators, not the parade. The NYPD instructs its officers NOT to face the parade, but to be looking at the crowd, or traffic if that is what you are assigned to.

Correct, unless you knew what you were looking at, you would think that was a Police Officer in a Police car. The only difference is that on several places on the vehicle the lettering says "Traffic" rather than "Police" , but the graphics, colors and font are the same, it "looks" like a Police car. What about tourist and other out-of-towners, are they up on the nuances of the NYPD vehicle graphics? If you had a simple question or needed directions and approached the car, you may get your query answered and never know the difference. If you were in trouble, say you were just robbed or saw someone breaking into a car and approached that car, he would have to call 911 or go on his radio to get help(the radios they use are not NYPD patrol divisions, they cannot talk directly to NYPD). As an added bonus, while you are waitng for the Precinct cops to arrive, this traffic agent will possibly tag your car with a summons. (Some of you might think I am joking....)

M"Ave is correct, these are not "police cars" they are Traffic cars the will be operated by civilians with the rank of Traffic agents, they will not be operated by Police Officers. Prior to 3 years ago, Traffic had thier own paint scheme, less than 3 years ago, these cars would be painted dark blue and not even look like NYPD Police cars. This is the latest installment of NYPD management's smoke and mirrors campaign to make NY'ers think there are more cops out there than there really are.

It is sad when cops have to start worrying about hurting the feelings of gangbangers. I hope these gangbangers were not to traumatized by what they heard and I hope they recover completely and are able to go back to their productive lives as valuable members of their community.

Prior to 9/11, the last recall for NYC Police or Fire was the Blackout in 1977. That was a 24 year gap, it does not happen very often.

I think the obstacles can be overcome, if the people involved WANT TO DO IT. I look at my tax bill and compare it to several years ago, and I wonder what is happening. It is not just some of the PD/FD that should look at merging, the school districts should also look at it.

It seems the topic of mergers is becoming more common. Considering the cost factors, I can't say I am against it. It may lead to some problems, manning, communications, and so on, but if they can be worked out, it may be worth a look . Wasn't there talk of a Yorktown/Westchester county merger a year or two ago?

What was the purpose of "open cabs"? Why cut the roof off of a rig that originally had a roof, this is the northeast and it does get cold. As I write this, it is about 14 degrees out.