So I was curious how cops and firefighters get along in your areas. They seem to get along round here, but I've been in other areas where they DO NOT get along at all. (Cops hanging out near the firehouses in hopes of catching a firefighter after having a couple drinks, arguing on scenes, etc.)

So how do you and your cops get along?

Views: 162

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

My VFD members get along great with mutual respect with all four LEO agencies in our area. The old county sheriff was defeated in our recent election and the new one vowed to support the VFDs 100%. I agree with a previous post about egos clashing sometimes plus maturity levels. TCSS
It's nice in the vollie world where I belong, about 3/4 of the police force are also members in the fire company. And when they are working PD the usually respect that they are on duty and dont interfere with the fire operations and it is great for a size up when they know what they are talking aobut because obviously there are on scene usually before us
yeah i agree safety comes first. and was a two lane road and we wanted to shut it down just until we had the patients out. and in our case we have state police and city police (local cops). and we are aloudto shut any road down at any time we want. if its a scene of an accident of fire we automatically have authority.
We get along with ours both City and County Sheriff. They have helped us out and we have helped them out.
With 'obviously they're on scene before us', does this mean that all emergency calls filter through the police dispatch system? Calls here are sent to whichever agency the caller asks for, the one they think is the first priority. (Multiple agencies being responded dependant on the type of incident.) The different ways things are done in different parts of the world!
Tony,

In my rural area, which is probably similar to other rural areas in the USA, most responders, FFs and LEOs have their radios on scan. When a fire call/tone comes through all responders know from the radio traffic, we have one dispatcher for all. Here LEOs are full time employees and the ones on patrol are already rolling and can get to the scene quicker providing they are not involved with another emergency. Whether LEOs are needed or not I'm sure curiosity or boredom drives that. Mostly we like having our LEOs on scene. TCSS
Gotcha Billy. With only state-wide emergency services here, we have state-wide dispatch as well. Police dispatch is by radio (on digital in my area, expensive scanners!), ambulance too I think (never had any interest in how they're given jobs) and fire by direct signal to Station or by pager. No audible tones for our paging, we use alpha/numeric direct to the Brigades required.

Police on scene at a fire is always good, and if they're not responded automatically we usually request them. Adds a lot of weight to our requests for the idiot sightseers to move back out of the way, when we can ask someone who doesn't want to move if they'd like to argue about it with a cop... And if the cops are having a quiet shift they love to watch whats going on too! Last big one I went to a cop asked me if we could possible call for them earlier in a fire - as by the time she gets there the red stuff always seems to have been knocked down already!
It never really made sense to with regards to the problems of closing down highways on accident scenes. Granted with minor, off the roadway situations, it may not be necessary, and sometimes firefighters become to rigid in their ideas.

But with all the police fatalities and injuries from secondary collisions, it defies logic that they would be oppossed to shut down traffic just becouse of inconvenience. WE have learned to position apparatus to block our vulnerability, and protect our crews using the apparatus. Any incidemt requiring extrication IS enough of a safety hazard to close down the highway. Let's not forget that not every driver is in full control, meaning we have too often seen the results of DUI's causing secondary collisions. Often these are worse than the intitial incident.

In many cases the police will resist closing the highway during the extrication and patient care aspect of the accident, but then close it completely for the subsequent investigation. Shows good training and priorities, doesn't it?

Again, let me say that MY experiences with OUR police have never been negative, in fact they do what ever they can to help protect us. But I have seen incidents in other jurisdictions contrary. The law enforcement ego is engrained from the inception of training. It can sometimes cloud common sense.
We get very very well around here, we ( waylandvfd.webs.com ) work very closely with local law enforcement, we want them on our side, there no reason why fire fighters and law enforcement can't work side beside, get over your hang ups if you have them, we all need each other at some point or time.
W e get along great with our PD. They come over to the station to wash thier cars and if we are'nt busy we will help them. We invite them to our pancake breakfast every month and they dont get charged. Our PD runs on all of our calls and we work really well together. they are always more than happy to help us with anything we need.

Reply to Discussion

RSS

Find Members Fast


Or Name, Dept, Keyword
Invite Your Friends
Not a Member? Join Now

© 2024   Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.   Powered by

Badges  |  Contact Firefighter Nation  |  Terms of Service