Police/Paramedic/FireFighters All in One?

[Guest]

What's everyones opinion of this? Talk about consolidation...

http://officer.com/web/online/Top-News-Sto...rs/1$41199

From officer.com

[Oswegowind 17]

Sounds kinda cool...Only the way a real buff would want it! And if it works, well, good for them!

[dadbo46 50]

Saw this tried years ago in the midwest. Never worked.

Admirable concept but the cop/firefighter/medic were confused as to what their priority was and never performed any of their duties well. Most places abandoned the idea.

[helicopper 1,050]

Sounds great on paper but while all the cops are fighting the fire, who's doing the cop stuff (traffic, perimeter, etc.)?

Who's covering all the required assignments while they're all in training, call audits, CME's, etc.?

Like I said, from an administrator's perspective it sounds like a home run but I can't see it working on the practical side - unless you're the Port Authority or other agency with oodles of resources.

[khas143 13]

When I lived in New Mexico, the Alamogordo City PD did this. They used to have about 1/2 of all on-duty cops trained as firefighters. It appeared to work for them since it did alleviate the issue of having all on duty P.O.'s fighting a fire. As far as I know, they still do it out there. (I sure as hell don't plan on going back!)

[ONEEYEDMIC 68]

I guess that would end the bashing wouldn't it? Almost like your SYBLIL with all the jobs you have to do. Talk about Jack of all trades Master of none.

[ny10570 745]

Talk about Jack of all trades Master of none.

BINGO!!

[Engfire 0]

A city south of me has a public safety dept and has had for several years, although the city is only 2.6 sq miles and is extremely rich. Also the dept that is to our north is trying out the cops as firefighters as well. I don't know about it personally but hey if it works it works.

[Oswegowind 17]

192, aren't you kind of a cop-firefighter with your bambi bucket? And you do okay...

[TXCHIEF 9]

I previously was involved with a Public Safety dept here in TX, which was originally formed in the early 80's as a way to ensure adequate staffing on fire/ems calls due to the majority of volunteers working away from the community during the day and not having the manpower to respond, as well as the city having a very limited tax base so they were not able to support caeer staffing. As noted by previous posters, it can be very difficult for the PSO's to ensure their proficiency's in the 3 skills of Police Officer, Firefighter and EMS ( we had both EMT and Paramedic officers). we also ran into several issues of officers being tied up on fire calls and dispatch having to request assitstance from neighboring PD's to respond to calls. Overtime several of the officers began having a preference on which roles they wanted to perform and there were also issue's of the on-going training to maintain there certifications.

Last year the city finally reached a point in which the tax base had matured and there were so many glaring deficincies in the Public Safety operations, that the appropriate decision was reached to break the department up and go back to separate Poiice and Fire Rescue departments. PSO's were initially offered the opportunity to choose in which organizations they wanted to go with and all maintained there same pay and special certification pays when the department broke up. There are several other depts nearby that utilize the PSO concept, and its a mixed bag of full blown cross trained personnel or just one of administration which have both a fire and police division reporting in. The concept can work well for a small community with limited ta revenue to support two separate depts and also one that may not have sufficent volunteer resources.

I am happy to say that both the Police and Fire depts in my former community are both flourishing after the break-up, with higher morale and the FD itself is no longer considered as a step-child for staffing and equipment

[DR104 141]

"and the program has saved the equivalent of 4.5 full-time jobs."

So thats 4.5 Firefighters out of a job, thats what it sounds like to me!!!!!!!

"Their squad cars have been replaced with specially equipped SUVs, packed with firefighting gear and clothing."

What are they using as a water source? They pull up to a fire, are they going in without a hose line? Its all sounds good till somebody gets hurt, then you see how fast they drop the program.

The PD in the city i work are doing this all the time and we don't have a program in place!!!

[Guest CRASH]

"and the program has saved the equivalent of 4.5 full-time jobs."

So thats 4.5 Firefighters out of a job, thats what it sounds like to me!!!!!!!

"Their squad cars have been replaced with specially equipped SUVs, packed with firefighting gear and clothing."

What are they using as a water source? They pull up to a fire, are they going in without a hose line? Its all sounds good till somebody gets hurt, then you see how fast they drop the program.

The PD in the city i work are doing this all the time and we don't have a program in place!!!

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So after reading this article i have but 1 simple question..

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Article states they ( two multi-purpose civil servants ) not sure what to call them attached to a hydrant , im assuming without an engine present GREAT OR NOT , what happens if and when the hydrant lowses pressure while these two poor saps are in there pushing the fire with no support or truck unit vemting or to rescue, no FAST team nothing......

[JohnnyOV 2]

so the old joke really has come true....

Whats the one thing cops and firefighters have in common?

they both want to be firefighters

[helicopper 1,050]

192, aren't you kind of a cop-firefighter with your bambi bucket? And you do okay...

I don't know if I'd go that far... with either job!!

[INIT915 1,119]

so the old joke really has come true....

Whats the one thing cops and firefighters have in common?

they both want to be firefighters

Not all cops. I assure you of that.

[INIT915 1,119]

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.

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So after reading this article i have but 1 simple question..

.

.

Article states they ( two multi-purpose civil servants ) not sure what to call them attached to a hydrant , im assuming without an engine present GREAT OR NOT , what happens if and when the hydrant lowses pressure while these two poor saps are in there pushing the fire with no support or truck unit vemting or to rescue, no FAST team nothing......

This system has worked in certain places over the years. Perhaps lets discuss the positive features instead of predicting where the failures (might eventually) be. As we see in many local agencies, the "traditional" approach to firefighting has ALOT of room for improvement.

I say kudos to this city for taking some initiative.

[khas143 13]

so the old joke really has come true....

Whats the one thing cops and firefighters have in common?

they both want to be firefighters

Depends... Get paid to sleep... sign me up....

Get woken up at 3:00AM, get paid nothing, and have my balls busted over having a parade once a year.... No thanks.

Oh... I'm sorry.... that's EMS (a.k.a. Earn Money Sleeping)

HA HA!

[sr71 1]

In the article, where it states that the cop/firefighter hooked up to a hydrant is just a wrong term. I think the author was trying to say standpipe.

[DOC22 1]

In the article, where it states that the cop/firefighter hooked up to a hydrant is just a wrong term. I think the author was trying to say standpipe.

I think you're correct, there, steve.

[Guest TomStrech]

Seems like a neat idea, if it works for them, good...or maybe they will have to rethink things within a few years. I guess we will have to wait and see.

Edited May 1, 2008 by TomStrech

[Guest feraldan]

Seems like just another scheme dreamed up by the bean-counters so they can send some guys home without work and cut the budget down.

Next step is to farm out those jobs to illegal immigrants. Why not? They'll do all that fire/police/ems stuff, cut your grass, pick your fruit, fix your house after the fire and for just minimum wage (or less!)

Sounds like we've got a winning plan for the future here.

Edited May 1, 2008 by feraldan

[crcocr1 8]

My concern with a combined police officer/paramedic or police officer/EMT is that serious conflicting duties arrive. On one hand, a police officer has a duty to the public in gathering evidence, namely in the form of statements made in the course of an investigation, only later to reveal those statements at trial. On the other hand, a paramedic/EMT has a duty to obtain information only for the purpose of treatment, and relay that information only to select individuals in furthering a patient's treatment. When does the public know if the statements they utter will be used against them in court or kept private?? The answer could cost lives.

[Capejake72 8]

not terribly sure on this, but from reading the article on firehouse and officer.com, it sounds like only some of the police officers are cross trained as firefighters and/or paramedics, so i would imagine there are only so many assigned to each shift along with their gear in the SUVs, kind of an expanded first response program. And if it works well for their community, good for them, i just don't see this sort of public safety system being universally applicable in every community all over the US. Besides, isn't it all about providing the best level of service and protection to the citizens of our community? It doesn't sound like they lost any people, or cut positions, more like they are trying to increase coverage & response times despite not having the funding to add more fire houses or apparatus