helicopper

Is it really private property? If so, why don't they post signs to that affect and have trespassers prosecuted (after they're released from the hospital)? Without signs, they have no argument that the area is private. Roads look like roads, ya know? How does anyone know it's private property if its not posted?

Can you say TIC?

Well said! The beauty of the digital age and the prevalence of the internet is that detectives can now solve crimes simply by sitting at their PC. Between youtube showing the crime in progress, facebook and myspace identifying the perps, there's not a whole lot that needs to be done!

To make it a moot point, they should have closed the doors to the ambulance. Then it would be clearly inappropriate. I'm not so sure that standing on a public highway to shoot your photos is going to be an intrusion. Great discussion!

Sure it says why the chase happened. She was driving without lights and when the marked police car tried to stop her, she kept going!!!

Outstanding posts, Raz and moggie6!!! While we're starting at the top, let's focus on the OFPC who can mandate that all students in an evening/weekend based class perform to the highest standards and not just "show up". I think we've all been in the classes with a guy or two who simply linger at the sidelines and don't actually do any of the skills being taught. The worst example that I'm personally aware of is a student in a Haz-Mat Tech class who received his certificate even though he never donned PPE - through the whole class. Pathetic! By creating rigorous training standards, we can being to narrow the gap that moggie describes and by holding the instructors accountable (sort of as Raz describes - not chiefs but the instructors) we begin to raise the standards and improve the quality of our services. I'm in no way bashing fire service instructors! Just like any barrel of apples, there are a few rotten ones and this is true in police training as well. Barry, in response to your question, "auxiliary police officers" are peace officers not police officers and they do not receive the same training as a full or part-time police officer. Is that terminology an issue, probably, but when you hear "auxiliary" you know your not dealing with a police officer. Great discussion guys (and gals!)!!! Keep it up!!!

Is this an excerpt from the actual statute or someone's interpretation of the statute? I've never heard of HIPAA applying to someone's image as taken on the street or in any other public place! Can you clarify? I'd just like to remind everyone of the requirement to cite references to laws/regulations or other pertinent documents that are referred to in a post. This can be found at http://www.emtbravo.net/index.php?showtopic=23856 This is the link to the full text of the statute. I find only one reference to photographs anywhere in the statute and it doesn't seem to relate to scene photography. In a nutshell, I don't think HIPAA applies at all to scene photography unless you're a "covered entity" as described by the statute - and I don't see many fire scene photographers meeting that requirement! Above is the reference that I found to photos and I don't think a scene photo meets the requirement here. There was another very interesting thread on scene photography that you should also read... http://www.emtbravo.net/index.php?showtopic=24881&st=0

Why is this particular point so difficult to achieve?

It started in YONKERS - surprise surprise!!! SP was prepared to deploy stop sticks at exit 13 but of course the suspect exited at 12. Figures doesn't it?

Fascinating subject and great responses! I'd have to say that the purest form of patriotism is placing your country's interests (or in this case community's) ahead of your own whether by service in the armed forces, being a citizen legislator (as was apparently intended by the founding fathers - not the ruling class of self-proclaimed royalty that we deal with now), or by contributing in some other way to your community (volunteering is surely a part of this). Activism is also a form of patriotism but it has been so bastardized by special interest activists that the word itself is controversial. But we should all be community activists, not necessarily on a single issue but to advance the community overall. This is in all our best interests and ultimately we all benefit from this type of behavior. And in the event that our government chooses to ignore the will of the people and further evolve into the royalty that we forcibly evicted once before, we will have to do it again!

Alright, I gotta ask... Is that the chief in the shorts and t-shirt?

As the title suggests, I'm wondering about what happened to the spirit of volunteering? I started out as a volunteer and all we received was a t-shirt (and sometimes we bought those). Sure our training was free and we sometimes had food at our events but things have really REALLY changed. The thread about a tax credit got me curious and I did a quick search on the Legislature's website. The following is a list of proposed and/or enacted legislation pertaining to the volunteer service in just the Assembly. Many of these are mirrored in the Senate. So I ask, do we need this much legislative assistance just to get people to volunteer??? What am I missing?

With this perspective, I'd be hard pressed to disagree with your points except the one about an SP pilot with only 200 hours. I know for a fact they require far more hours than that before they can be PIC. Thanks for expanding on your earlier comments!

Complete article available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7462953.stm OK, what do you think about this?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/10/canada.feet/index.html So, two of the five feet belong to the same person...

Based on the thread about proposed legislation to create a tax credit for volunteers to compensate for fuel expended while volunteering. NOTE: This thread is established for the poll only and comments should be made in this thread. Thank you.

Bump Please take a moment and participate in our POLL. If you already have, Thanks!

I hope that slight is directed at the medical side of the operation and not the aviation side because the State Police pilots are exceptionally well trained and experienced. Many have military flying backgrounds and experience to draw upon as well. If it is directed at the medical side I'll agree with you that you can't just take any street medic and make them a flight medic overnight. There should be comprehensive training, standards and quality controls regardless of the flight medics background. But before you start throwing stones in a glass house, I'd point out that not all nurses are cut out to be EMT's/Paramedics or flight crew - they need the same type of specialized training and experience! I'm not a fan of any operation that doesn't have the highest possible standards and training, especially one as difficult as medevac but to condemn the State Police - who were doing this long before Aeromed/STAT-Flight/LifeNet came on the scene - is a bit much.

In theory taking mass transit is a great idea. Practically speaking, there are a great many problems with it. First, as JCESU points out, there are FLSA issues associated with travel and the potential to encounter an incident requiring action (aided case, crime in progress, crime in past requiring a report). Next, the hours are not conducive to mass transit. If a cop is working 1600-2400 and catches a late job or arrest, he may miss the last train out of GCT to home - cause let's face it, most cops don't live in the city. Working midnights, or 0600-1800 or 1800-0200 you may have to catch a train 3 hours prior to your tour to be on time since off-peak is so inconsistent. Then there'd be the subway ride to the precinct. That's a long commute on top of a long work day... As for hydrants, obviously nobody should be parking there. Pity the city dumps on its public safety force like this! "Pay for the privilege to park there"? That's great considering you're still the lowest paid PD in the region.

You're right! A lot of "pork" projects have no business being funded by the entire state when they benefit only a small portion thereof and I do object to many of them. As for school district aid or Medicaid they are social programs benefitting many many more people than the proposed tax credit for volunteer fire. They are also well researched and definitely do what they are created to do. There's no research that says the tax credit for fuel consumption will have any improvement on the fire service. The formulas for state aid to local schools are also hotly contested and debated with almost annual changes based upon actual research and population changes. Good point, thanks for bringing it up!

If the city provided parking for its employees, this probably wouldn't be a problem. I'm glad there is so little for IAB to do that they can go around doing the job of a "brownie"!

It's an abbreviation for QUIT TAKING IT PERSONALLY! Not a stupid question, it came up in other threads too! I believe that FEMA is going to add it to the book on acronyms so that everyone knows it and maybe a few more people try it!

Alright, everyone take a deep breath! If you'd take the time to read and digest the comments of those of us who have voiced opposition to a statewide tax based plan for compensating volunteers for their fuel consumption instead of leaping to the conclusion that everyone is "volunteer bashing" you'd see that the issue is not career/volunteer or simply anti-volunteer. Most of the comments were against the statewide approach rather than the issue of providing fuel compensation to volunteer responders. As for my comments, I stand by my resistance to shifting the costs of providing a local service to the state as a whole. If my fire district wants to provide compensation to its members, fine, let them put it into their budget and I'll pay that nominal increase to my taxes. I should not, however, have to subsidize the activities of another department that chooses not to address the issue itself. This also has nothing to do with the fire service - I'd be just as resistant if this was any other purpose and I was subsidizing another part of the state. Another important point that has been for the most part overlooked - will this actually work? Will we see any tangible improvement in recruitment/retention of volunteers or any change to the responses of these volunteers? How about a study on that before we commit to 125 MILLION (estimated only) in tax credits. Nobody, in any of the posts in this thread, suggested eliminating the volunteer fire service in favor of career departments! That simply wouldn't work and I don't think anyone is naive enough to believe otherwise. If they did that they'd have to "boredom" to the list of causes of line of duty deaths because the volume in so many areas is so low. Imagine spending 40 hours a week in a firehouse that goes out once during that time or not at all? There's no way to maintain proficiency under those conditions either but that's for another thread. Before rallying to support legislation that will have very little impact on the provision of emergency services, why don't we simply follow the advice of another EMTBravo member: Let each department identify how to better provide its service and go to its constituents to fund it. I pay enough taxes already! With that philosopy, I can't complain about Congress since I'm not a legislator or complain about healthcare since I'm not a hospital. We, as taxpayers, have every right to question or "b***h" about the services in our community whether we're directly associated with them or not and whether they are career or volunteer. Many people seem to think that there is no accountability because "hey we're volunteers" but that's simply not true. Whether a municipal service, other political subdivision (aka fire district), or non-profit/not-for-profit corporation there are rules to be followed and the public has a right to know and provide input (good, bad, or indifferent). This has been an interesting discussion with many varying opinions and we need to respect each other and our viewpoints. Personal snipes degrade not only this site but the significance of your message. So lighten up, don't take this personally, and think about how you'd feel if you were attacked for posting your opinion before you attack someone elses!

Just out of curiosity, would this be in addition to the other proposed legislation that would give volunteers a $1200 tax credit as a recruitment and retention tool? Wouldn't that be construed as double-dipping? Also, has the proposed fuel reimbursement act been officially drafted or is he just testing the waters? You want to really impress me Assemblyman Zebrowski , give us ALL a break and reduce/repeal the State fuel taxes for a while!!!

By definition if you are a volunteer you are doing it for free! If you do it for compensation it's just a job!