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I think another question is if consolidation would really fix the understaffing and response issue. For example if you go from having an understaffed engine and truck coming from 5 minutes away as first due; to having a somewhat staffed engine coming from 10 minutes away (the truck and closer station were "right sized" during the consolidation process) has anything really been fixed? Same thing with the police. If a town has 2 officers and a sergeant on every shift, and they merge into the county and make the town a post staffed with 1 officer (who can be assigned to calls anywhere as backup) that town is a net loser of 1 officer and 1 sergeant per shift. How does that benefit the public?

Not sure if it is specific to the poly, but I know they have done that in the past. That is basically how the Troop C scandal happened. (NYS Trooper applied for I believe it was the CIA. Told them during his background that one of his "special skills" was the ability to fabricate evidence. CIA called NYSP Professional Standards (IAB) Also most agencies ask if you have taken a poly before and what the results were. Now that being said, there have been multiple cases of someone failing a polygraph at one agency and getting hired by another a few months later, with the same questions being asked

I was just wondering what everyone's definition of entrapment is, and what is the "real" definition. I've been told that ANY time a person can't get out of their car after an MVA it is entrapment. And I have also been told that entrapment means that they are physically pinned by the structure of the vehicle (i.e. a dashboard, steering wheel, roof column etc) For example, If a vehicle's door was wedged closed, is that entrapment? What if a car is rolled over and the person has back pain and is too scared to move, but can move if they wanted to? Are those situations entrapment or inconvenienced?

Actually that is the computer generated protocol response for entering a subtype to the call of TRAPPED. We were only to use that for pretty much confirmed entrapment NOT just they haven't gotten out yet, or door pops

Well up here it is not a big deal, but where I used to work, it was a big difference. A door pop was an inconvienced subject and the response was 1 Engine, 1 Ambulance A trapped subject response was 1 Hurst ® equipped piece, 1 suppression piece, 1 Ambulance, Duty Chief and Safety officer

Isn't there something with equipment as well, like the way hydrants are threaded? or has that been corrected

They probably are then. I even saw some IFT work in CAD. Must not want to keep separate dispatchers up here and are trying to consolidate office staff in Philly

When I was dispatching over at Care 1 they had an old plectron receiver for Orange 911. Only went off once but it was there they may be using that

I will play devil's advocate here and wonder why no one seems to want to acknowledge the downsides of consolidation. Here are some that I know of, all of these coming from real life experiences with the centralized dispatch point in our county. 1. Lack of accountability. With the local dispatch centers there is better accountability in that if a dispatcher makes a mistake, the fire or EMS chief can go to the police chief and have the tapes pulled and appropriate corrective action taken. With the centralized center, any complaints that are submitted get dropped into the memory hole and you hear the same dispatchers making the same mistakes over and over again. 2. Lack of accountability (part 2). Local dispatchers follow local protocols designed by the agencies they service. Centralized dispatch follows their own protocols. Don't like it? tough, deal with it. 3. Loss of local knowldege: Even with all of the computerized maps and reference sources, there are some situations that you can't beat local knowledge 4. Competition for air time. With budgets being the way they are, this is a very real concern as you could end up with too few dispatchers listening to too many channels. Also could happen because of poorly designed radio systems trying to put too many departments on too few frequencies or talk-groups. Now, I am not against consoldiation per say. But it needs to be done correctly, and after careful study to see if it is really the best option

ISO might not care about number of calls but the problem is that the taxpayers do. Whether that is right or wrong of them to care they do care. And if taxpayers think that the career firefighters are going to " sit around and do nothing " they will vote the budget down They don't know about training, drills, inspections, preplanning and everything else a FF does.

According to their website Goshen averages 725 calls a year, or 1.9 calls a day. How much paid staff are would be able to be justified with that call volume

www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/administrative/privacyrule By the way, radio communications are specifically exempt from HIPAA

School nurses can sign RMAs in bus accidents as they are acting in loco parentis. Why not in this scene?

I was thinking like our department, one crosslay and a small booster, maybe 500 gal. We actually had a situation fairly recently where our truck was sent mutual aid as the FAST team, and ended up being the first arriving apparatus, as the district who had the call was having some major response time issues. The truck made a pretty good push on the fire until our engines and tanker could get there

I think there are actually two separate issues here. One is FCC regulations, which require the radio to be type accepted (to Part 90 for public safety) and that the person transmitting be authorized/licensed to do so The second is New York State Penal Law and New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law pertaining to transmitting on a public safety radio or having a radio that can receive police frequencies in a vehicle

I think that in a volunteer system, every, or almost every, apparatus should carry water, because you don't necessarily know what you are going to get out and when. This way, if your ladder is on the road 5 min ahead of any other piece of apparatus, at least they can do something

I think technology like this will start being used, but it should have very limited applications (i.e. HAZMAT, extremely large buildings etc). The reason why is two fold: 1. On a typical residential structure, it would probably take less time to do a 360 walk around then it would to deploy the drone and pilot it around the building, trying to avoid smoke, power lines, making sure the camera is facing the right direction etc. 2. Technology fails. Look at Murphy's law for more

Because they are ultimatley employees of the governmental body and not the police department. Their checks are issued by the town/village/city/state etc and signed by the general treasurer, not the police chief

I don't think EDP is a pejorative or derogatory term either. Especially when you consider how the term came about. Also, like velcroMedic said, what is the alternative term? "mentally ill person" that isn't accurate as there are people who display emotional disturbance because of medical conditions (TBI, brain tumors etc) or developmental disabilities or extreme stress that don't meet the criteria to be termed "mentally ill." As far as why emergency services personnel are hesitant to seek help, I think it has a lot more to do with the very real negative consequences on the job (i.e. desk duty, rubber gun squad, forced retirement, problems when taking psych evals for other jobs down the line). I'm not sure how to fix the issues with this though. To the broader issue of an ineffective mental health system, there is an answer to that, just not one anyone wants to hear (increased use of hospitializations and institutionalizations of severely or dangerously ill persons)

I think it has an NFPA diamond hazmat symbol on the back roll up door of the truck

I think the money plays a pretty big role in it. For example, what is a small ambulance corps to do that doesn't have enough volunteers to cover a call, but doesn't have the population or volume to pay for 2 paid EMTs every day? I know the answer in that case is really consolidation, but until that happens, isn't it better to at least have 1 trained responder to assess and start treatment before the crew arrives than to have nothing, or farming the task off on another service (like PD)

What if they weren't dispatched, but asked the IC/ other person in authority if they could help and were told 'yes'? Maybe not so much with the fire service but it happens in police work all the time (i.e. a trooper drives by a local officer or deputy on a car stop and stays to help or provide backup) Also, if they were allowed to tag in, wouldn't the officers who arrested them check with the IC first before making any arrests or expelling anyone from the scene?

I agree that lockdowns/shelter in place in schools is not the best solution. In every other type of building from college campuses to government buildings the options are 1. Evacuate, 2. Lock down; in that order. Personally I think schools like locking down better then evacuating because it gives them more control. Sometimes, hearing the justifications for lockdowns rather than evacuations, it seems like they are more concerned about the liability if a student would to run away during an evacuation and get hit by a car or otherwise hurt; then they are about what would save the most lives in an active shooter incident. Same reason why schools lock down for bomb threats, while other buildings evacuate

Right, because doors can't be breached. , And in this case, that window next to it renders the device pointless. How about teachers leave the emergency response to the professionals

I always thought that Rockland Paramedics had the 911 contracts in Rockland, and Rockland Mobile Care did interfacility transports and nursing homes. However, I recently saw two things that made me question that. First I saw a unit responding with Stony Point ambulance that said Rockland Mobile Care, North Rockland Medic 1. Is that new, or have they always been with mobile care as opposed to RPS. Also I recently saw a Tuxedo Medic 31 truck, that also said Rockland Mobile Care on it, instead of RPS. Did they switch too, or were they just using a spare truck?