Ging599

If there's one area screaming for consolidation, it's school districts.

Read below:

http://www.lohud.com/story/money/personal-finance/taxes/david-mckay-wilson/2015/03/26/high-paid-school-administrators-lewisboro/70501246/
Over 55 million dollars being spent for 332 "administrators" (who probably never see the classroom) in 53 distinct, autonomous school districts serving 1.2 million students. Some districts ridiculously small but still paying their administrators more than State Education officials.

Thanks Seth. I know that many people are very upset with a recent item that was posted on the website of the newspaper that I work for. This was a decision made by the bosses. There are many dedicated employees that work there that had nothing to do with that decision.

There was recently a similar thread to this about unsafe riding for parades which was promptly taken down. I am surprised this one has lasted.

Santa rides inside with the crew or walks.

I have addressed this with drivers and officers. You would be amazed at some of the justifications I hear as to why they went "Code 3". I won't go into specifics.
It is hard to remove driving privileges or take disciplinary action when there is no set policy.
I tried to lead by example. It is well known in my department that I very rarely use lights/siren on my Chief vehicle. Yes I have been driving down the road with no lights or siren on and in my rear view mirror I see the engine in the distance lights a blazing.

I have addressed this with drivers and officers. You would be amazed at some of the justifications I hear as to why they went "Code 3". I won't go into specifics.
It is hard to remove driving privileges or take disciplinary action when there is no set policy.
I tried to lead by example. It is well known in my department that I very rarely use lights/siren on my Chief vehicle. Yes I have been driving down the road with no lights or siren on and in my rear view mirror I see the engine in the distance lights a blazing.

Believe me, I don't want to write more policies that further police the department but I stalled on this for a year and watched how responses went. I heard more absurd reasoning as to why they used the sirens for obvious non-emergency calls and got more complaints from people about the Q being wound up at 3am for no reason than I care to admit. I feel I have no other choice.

I am in the process of putting together a slient response policy for my department and was wondering if any of you had a similar policy in effect. Not every alarm requires a "Code 3" response so I am trying to draw up a policy to address this. Any ideas or input is appreciated.

Our FD is one of the few exceptions that Grumpy mentioned in Putnam County that does not provide EMS. At the request of our local VAC, (and false assurances that there very few CPR calls that they actually go on), we signed on with the Echo level policy that Grumpy described above and now respond with EMS on CPR calls. Our department was one of the first to be activated with EMS once the policy took effect and have gone on at least 7 such calls since it was implemented. We require that members that go on these calls are a minimum of CPR/AED certified. So far there seems to be positive feedback from the VAC as they appreciate the extra hands on scene.

Our FD is one of the few exceptions that Grumpy mentioned in Putnam County that does not provide EMS. At the request of our local VAC, (and false assurances that there very few CPR calls that they actually go on), we signed on with the Echo level policy that Grumpy described above and now respond with EMS on CPR calls. Our department was one of the first to be activated with EMS once the policy took effect and have gone on at least 7 such calls since it was implemented. We require that members that go on these calls are a minimum of CPR/AED certified. So far there seems to be positive feedback from the VAC as they appreciate the extra hands on scene.

Our FD is one of the few exceptions that Grumpy mentioned in Putnam County that does not provide EMS. At the request of our local VAC, (and false assurances that there very few CPR calls that they actually go on), we signed on with the Echo level policy that Grumpy described above and now respond with EMS on CPR calls. Our department was one of the first to be activated with EMS once the policy took effect and have gone on at least 7 such calls since it was implemented. We require that members that go on these calls are a minimum of CPR/AED certified. So far there seems to be positive feedback from the VAC as they appreciate the extra hands on scene.

It should be postponed or cancelled.The marathon requires huge amounts of police officers to properly cover it. I worked it last year, and in Manhattan it required 8 to 10 police officers per block . One number for total police officers required was 2000. The only way they can normally staff this event, and still provide proper coverage to the rest of the city is thru the use of Overtime, by ordering police officers to work their day off, a minimum of 12 hours. Right now as I am writing this, every gas station in the Bronx has at least 2 police officers assigned to it to prevent violence and maintain traffic flow. Most stations are out of gas. One station I spoke with said they may get delivery on saturday. Parts of the Bronx are still without power. In addition all police officers have been working 12 hour days since the day of the storm. Between work and volunteering at the firehouse I have seen my family maybe a total of 3 hours this week. I am one of the lucky ones, my biggest loss was a refridgerator full of food. One of my coworkers has lost everything except for the clothes on his back. His house will have to be torn down. Fortunately the.job gave him time off to deal with this, but most of us have yet to really deal with what ever problems they may have at home. I normally commute via mass transit, but with storm interruptions, and now tour changes that is no longer an option. More than likely I will be ordered in to work one of two days off I get this week. That means more gas I am going to have to use if I can find it. Morale was already low, and now with the storm, extra hours, stress if commute, patience is starting to wear thin. I am so glad that Bloomberg cares more for a bunch of foreign athletes than his own employees.

The scenario I had in my mind when I posted this was a cardiac arrest call with family present. Members performing CPR would benefit from having respiratory protection due to the increased likelihood of aspiration. A simple, does he/she have any infectious diseases question during initial interview with the family. Of course first responders should have respiratory protection on but you honestly don't see that being worn so much.

Carmel FD - 442 - No EMS