Funny coincidence - we had a small run-in with law enforcement just the other night.

The call came in as a property damage crash so only LE was sent to check it out. It was a 2-car T-bone with 5 people total involved. Tow trucks were called and one car was actually being loaded onto a flat bed when one of the involved persons decided to be seen at a hospital.

Our ambulance was called for a "checkover" at a "crash"; our SOG/SOP calls for a vehicle crash response. The LEO on scene was rather pissed when the fire truck showed up and had words with our Chief, who explained that we have SOPs too.

To get to the point - you are right on with your assessment that a little knowledge of each agency's role is essential. I think another aspect to be considered is that none of us are perfect; everone has a bad day, now and then.

I agree whole heartly with you John, we all work to save lives so I don't see why we can't all work together.....sometimes it just takes more than having tunnel vision and realizing that different agencies have different or the same SOP's and work together in making sure they mesh. Our city and state agencies work very well together most of the time here in Alaska. I say most of the time though because just recently we had a crazy situation here at the University where I work that made me see that some work still needs to be done. We have on university property a couple of lakes, one of which is part of the city dog park. We also have alot of construction going on around campus during the spring, summer, fall season (which I lump together because it's really only about 6 months and the other 6 months of winter season in construction unfriendly)....well we had this gentleman with his dog running around by the lake and his dog went out onto the very, very thin ice that was still around the edge and fall through. This dog owner promptly went out to help his dog and himself got into trouble with the cold, cold water. Now the fire department (who are very well trained for these problems since they happen quite often up here) showed up to help. Our University Police Department also showed up (our University Police Department are an actual police department and not just a security department like some other universities and campuses have). Well all of a sudden a contractor who is working close by comes and demands that the fire department get their rigs of the contracting site and then our UPD officer joins in on the argument all the while this poor guy and his dog are getting into more distress. Finally a couple of workers from maintenance and the outdoor physical education department bring in a canoe and go out and get both the man and his dog bring them in and take them to the hospital and pet emergency (which are very close by) because these agencies are still all arguing over the situation. I was appalled over this situation and made a complaint to both our chief of police of our Univeristy Police Department and our University Chancellor reminding them that we all have to learn to play together and remind them that egos need to be left out. I also reminded them how thankful we are to the fire department that they come to all our 911 calls that we make from the sports complex in such quick response times not matter what the situation is, and I reminded them that we at the sports center need to keep up this kind of team work and not alienate anyone. Hopefully this situation will resolve itself and never happen again. So listen up all life saving departments and remember what we all were suppose to learn in kindergarten...we need to remember to work together, share our toys and be respectful of those around us. Take care all of my brothers, sisters and friends and stay safe.