helicopper

How does the dual response work when neighboring departments are also in the parade or other activity that ties up personnel and resources. Great idea to have the PD help with navigating for the guest department - all too often the calls are in strange locations. Now if a large number of member FF are leaving for the parade and social activities thereafter, how do you insure adequate staffing for the duration of the parade and say the next 12 hours or so? For local parades, do you have plans that would enable you to pull apparatus and personnel from the parade for the emergency?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/lapd-chief-budget-crunch-forcing-him-to-move-350-officers-from-specialized-units-to-field-.html

http://www.pcnr.com//news/2010-02-17/Front_Page/Putnam_Fire_Calls_Break_Alltime_Record.html (note due to subscription restrictions, this link may not be active for a couple of weeks) One call per hour countywide - not much of a volume and some agencies still have difficulty staffing their units and covering calls.

Stories of civilians and emergency services personnel alike using "questionable judgement" when handling or responding to suspicious package or possible hazardous devices calls abound. It shouldn't come as a surprise that people get complacent and/or apathetic, or are inadequately trained or supervised, or just don't think about the "what if" factor.

The discussion thus far has been focused on the 10 career departments that are part of the Pace study. What about in the volunteer sector? Just looking at a County map, if the FD's were consolidated/regionalized to the City/Town level we would from 57 fire departments to just 20 (this counts the regional department we've already been talking about). Without that regionalization, there would be about 24. Wouldn't that improve and streamline fire operations in Westchester County?

If you're looking at a regionalization/consolidation of departments, argument #1 doesn't apply because you're not paying for Town A or Town B, you're paying for the "regional fire department". In the grand scheme, I am almost certain that people will receive more for their tax dollars than tney currently do. Argument #2 would be answered with maps, response times, and an explanation of response times. If you look in the study completed for the Westchester departments, there are justifications and rationales for why some stations would stay open and some would close.

I think you overestimate the public and their interest in all this. If we show them that their taxes are remaining stable BUT they are receiving a reduction in their homeowners insurance because of the improved ISO ratings, I think they'll be on board with it. 61Mack is right too, there should be a lot of public education to show people that this isn't a burgeoning government but rather the streamlining and improvement of existing services.

The outcome would very likely look like whatever they want it to. It could still be a combination department but would have the benefit of a larger tax base, more personnel, and access to additional resources that were not previouly available. That's one of the nice things about doing this now on our terms before it gets rammed down our throats legislatively. You can decide what/how you wnat to do things.

Did you see the followup to the story? City pays electric bill for lights and so FF can watch TV in firehouses. Next week's story is: City FF use firehouses to sleep, shower, and eat but pay no rent.

No, it is not deciding what people can and can not watch. Members can choose to seek out the video and photos in question if they so desire but this forum does not have to be the conduit to what so many consider objectionable. Based on complaints and feedback about the presence of the link it was removed. The sum and substance of your question was left for discussion. As was said by another staff member, if you have an issue with the staff it is addressed through PM or e-mail and not in the forum itself.

If instead of biting their tongues and getting frustrated, if this dedicated band of professionals rallied together and became a vocal advocate for doing it right - without pointing fingers or laying blame, but highlighting how much better it could be - I bet more people would jump on the band wagon and before you knew it instead of being the outspoken minority, we would be a very very powerful majority. Most people in this business want to do it right. They either don't know how to affect change themselves due to a lack of experience or leadership (a real problem in emergency services but especially EMS) or lack the fortitude to fight the battle by themselves. Once they see that they can be a part of an EMS revolution, I bet most would be onboard. Imagine being able to bring a dozen knowledgeable EMS professionals or FD professionals to your meeting or to a town/village/city board/council meeting to lobby for your cause. No screaming or yelling, just professionals laying out the case for a model system. Then you could have the EMS system that works and we can all be proud of AND the t-shirts and parade trophies!

There are pedestrian walkways on many other bridges, including some notable ones like the Brooklyn, GW, and Newburgh Beacon, but they seem to have less of a suicide issue than the TZ. I wonder if that's because of the obscene amount of publicity the jumpers off the TZ get from our local media outlets?

That video is a vivid reminder of just how dangerous law enforcement really is and the complete disregard for the value of human life in our society today. I think almost every cop in the country sees videos like that in training every year but hopefully they are becoming fewer and farther between thanks to improved training and a change in mindset.

Shopping center roads and parking lots are a gray area. While they are private property, they are also public highways in the VTL. In the past when I was a part of such details we had the permission of the property owner to use a large section of a shopping center parking lot for the detail. It is generally a safety issue that drives us off the road and into a parking lot.

If the Taser barbs didn't penetrate the suspects outer clothing it is possible that it wouldn't immobilize him. We don't have all the info so maybe a second officer was covering the Taser operator with a firearm? Who knows. All I can say is I'm very happy with the outcome. Suspects in custody and no cops injured.

Agreed. This is a pretty broad topic.

I don't know what you're looking at but when I posted it was 526 views (now it's over 600). So I do my cop math and 105 x 5 is 525 hence my five times remark which was in jest anyway (that would explain the smileys). If I had known my math would be graded I would have used a calculator.

If your agency has any ice rescue drills scheduled please PM or e-mail me with info/details. Thanks.

Didn't just double it... It's 5x more now.

This has already been beaten to death in EMS circles. You can't bill just insurance companies and you can't bill just non-residents. It's either all or none. The degree to which you pursue collections is a gray area but you can't just tell people who live in town to ignore the bill you send them. The notion that "people" don't get billed when you charge insurance companies is also flawed logic. The insurance company is just going to pass the fees along to you via increased premiums or surcharges or other means. They're not going to risk losing their profits because of claims. If services are already paid for by taxes, why bill?

Imagine that, using a utility type vehicle for FAST equipment? And here I thought you needed a 65 foot long, 19 foot high, 75 ton "heavy rescue" for that. Silly cop, no donut! [/sarcasm]

Aren't inspections already paid for in the form of taxes?

Don't know how it is in MD or CT but in NY there is no legal obligation to respond to property damage accidents. It is incumbent on the operators to report the accident to DMV. Police reports are required for injury/fatal accidents or those involving certain vehicles under certain conditions. Insurance companies don't dictate whether or not a police report is completed (though they may think that they do). Just a sign of the times, it's going to continue getting worse before it gets any better. The real thing to note is that they laid off 1/3 of their uniformed officers. THAT is the real issue. NYS Vehicle and Traffic Law:

It is exactly that. In law enforcement it can signify a division or unit that does other than traditional law enforcement duties (patrol, investigative). I'm not aware of any NIMS definition or requirements for such a designation and wraftery may have hit the only true requirement.

Unbelievable! The PART-TIME state legislature costs 220 MILLION dollars not including the salaries? The salaries are another 17 million. I think it's safe to say that it's time for a change. They should cut that by 50% immediately and it would go a long way toward closing the budget defecit.