helicopper

Is the article stating that 70% of all retirements from the FDNY are disability retirements? That does seem to be pretty high. Maybe there are underlying problems in the City that need to be corrected (be it staffing, equipment, procedures) so the members are protected from injury/illness and can retire normally. Somewhere is a panel of doctors making the determination that these FF's are disabled. It certainly isn't the FF themselves that are inflating their pensions this way. And, if they are truly disabled and can't work any other job, the disability pension is the least we can do. Unfortunately, the article is unclear and doesn't paint a very flattering picture of the FDNY membership. Typical.

Is this the kind of building you're referring to?

There have been some markedly anti-police posts in this thread and on two grounds I have to call "foul". The first is the violation of forum rules about derogatory comments directed at other members. The second is the fact that police officers swear an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and do so in a quite personal and dangerous way. To assert that they are all corrupt and/or incompetent is an inappropriate generalization and categorically untrue. Police officers literally risk their lives to fulfill their oath and are monitored, supervised, second-guessed, and challenged on a daily basis. This thread is about automated license plate readers that can scan license plates on public highways and identify stolen, wanted, or otherwise noteworthy vehicles. The fourth amendment doesn't apply to a camera looking at the State's license plate on your car. "Trickery" may be used by the police in some cases but those tactics are going to be reviewed by the courts, the lawyers, and ultimately if the tricks were not Constitutionally sound, the results will be excluded from the proceedings. If you want to debate Constitutional issues, fine. But please refrain from making derogatory remarks about the few people in this society who have actually sworn an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and do so under the most adverse conditions. There are of course bad apples and cases where mistakes are made but those are not the majority. So, if you'd like to point out your legal prowess and highlight your superiority over a police officer you encountered, fine, just do it without painting them all with the same brush.

It's not uncommon to require court orders before releasing records of any kind. That doesn't mean cover-up or anything more than them protecting themselves.

Now there'll be 60 posts attacking our sarcasm.

Maybe make it about safety officer's using blue lights ?????

Huh? What do you mean?

According to Snopes it's not true - read here

This is a great topic to discuss. Where is everyone?

Agreed. There's also the issue of collision repair - a minor accident may take one of these out of service for some time. And, if the information I've been given is corrrect, they're great until the batteries need to be replaced and then you're paying big bucks. Apparently since this year. As for the whole "made in America" argument. Even "American" made vehicles have parts, etc. from Mexico, Canada, and overseas. Some are even assembled in Mexico. "Foreign" vehicles are much the same so what is really "American" anymore? It sounds like the NYPD is at least making an effort to be more environmentally friendly - I'm sure there will still be plenty of conventional vehicles in the fleet too.

As there is neither a search or a seizure, I think you'd be hard pressed to make that argument stick. If it is maintained like the EZ-pass database or other systems already in existence, it is very likely that you'd have to get a court order to access it for investigatory purposes. This is a great discussion, I'm curious to hear other opinions...

Metro London is ringed by these cameras in fixed locations to track vehicles and identify patterns that would be indicators of criminal activity and/or terrorism. The data is used to protect everyone working in this high profile area and reduce the likelihood of terrorist bombings like the Manchester truck bomb. The Brits swear by it. Even if it is recording every license plate what civil liberties are being infringed upon?

As INIT said, there are a bunch of them around here now. State Police, County Police, Yonkers, Mt Vernon, and many many more...

What is the good cause? Indicating that might drum up some more interest and support.

I was under the impression that a "haz-mat" had to be more than just vehicle component fluids spilled in an accident.

So what was the haz-mat?

One of the things that has always impressed me when listening to this or other ATC tapes of emergencies such as this is the calm, cool, and collected voices on the radio. THAT is the sign of a true professional and a reflection of training and experience!

At a time when the city is considering cutting 30 BLS tours per day citywide, the fiscal impact of anything is a valid question. Does anyone know the numbers of acute anaphylaxis or other cases that would benefit from the administration of epinephrine that do not receive ALS responses? I'm guessing that an anaphylaxis call is going to be a higher priority and more often than not receive an ALS response so the epi is there in one form or another. In the event that an ALS response is not available, how fast could a BLS unit in the 5 boros be at a hospital where the epi is available? I don't think that it is as big a deal as its being made out to be. Would I like to see epi on every ambulance? Not unless the training, QI/QA, and response times support its use. As Goose said, if the ambulance takes 30 minutes to get there, who cares what its carrying.

Go to jail? Really? Come on, the cops are just acting on the information that they're given. Terrorists do take photos and video in advance of their attacks - part of their pre-planning. If the officers are acting in good faith and only attempting to protect us and our critical infrastructure do you really think they should go to jail? I don't agree with the conduct of these officers based on what little I know of this particular situation but I don't believe that their conduct was criminal. This is a very sensitive situation and there will be many issues and problems as we strive for a balance between protecting ourselves while still enjoying the ability to have photography as a hobby (or profession). I don't think it is as black and white or as simple as a first amendment issue - there are definitely places that should not be freely photographed. Anyway, it is an interesting situation.

Amtrak police are, in fact, police officers. They are trained at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center alongside uniformed members of dozens of federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security and USDA, DOC, DHHS, DOI, DOE, to name a few. MTA Bridge and Tunnel officers are peace officers but they may have police powers while on-duty and within their jurisdiction - you'd have to review the enabling legislation to confirm that. But either way, I wouldn't want to question the authority of a police or peace officer when they've got you stopped.

NYS has had (for a few years) a large pool of money that could be tapped for political subdivisions (including FD's) to use for regionalization/consolidation but to date, I don't think a single nickel has been used. I like the idea that additional state aid would be available to those municipalities/areas that do regionalize. Makes sound fiscal sense. I've never understood why Westchester needs (or would even want) a couple hundred different political subdivisions within the 470 +/- square miles of county.

http://www.jems.com/news_and_articles/news...violations.html

Well said! I've long been a proponent of QA/QI reviews of all medevac calls to insure that those who use it as a crutch for their decision making or those who do it because its cool get some sort of oversight. Just because it would take 30 minutes to drive to a trauma center doesn't make your patient a candidate for air transport. But, we'll have to see what happens. Perhaps when the regulations on their use becomes so restrictive that you can't get them when you actually do need them, we'll all sit back and say "remember when we could get a medevac when we wanted one?". Other sources on the story: NTSB webpage on subject http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=...&id=6639826 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...oryId=100151419 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29004793/

Why get upset? Didn't they ignore his first TWO drunk driving convictions?

You're absolutely right - training and experience makes a truck driver. Maybe this will force people to get both before getting behind the wheel of a 10 ton fire truck. Would that be a DOT check or a sobriety check? These laws probably do a bit of both. Without regulating the caliber of the drivers operating heavy vehicles or specialized vehicles such as tankers, aren't the roads more dangerous? I don't know if I want a minimally trained driver exercising the privileges of an emergency vehicle in a 10 ton truck without training and experience at a minimum required or a CDL holder.