Without evidence of benefit, an intervention should not be presumed to be beneficial or safe.

- Rogue Medic

Another Police and Fire Department Merger to Improve Law Enforcement and Fire Safety

 

Residents, police and firefighters filled the Bay City Commission meeting today. Justin Engel | MLive
 

As with the mergers of EMS and fire departments, the goal is to provide better service to the public.

To suggest anything else is cynical and offensive.

At least that is what fire fighters tell me when discussing fire departments taking over EMS.

In this case, the fire fighters clearly do not appreciate their contribution to improving the quality of emergency services.

Flashing lights = All hazards emergency response.

Perhaps this is not what the IAFF (International Association of Fire Fighters – the main fire fighters’ union) the had in mind when they began taking over EMS agencies.
 

The Bay City Commission on Monday, Dec. 3, approved a measure to put 12 Bay City police officers capable of fighting fires on the streets while laying off 14 firefighters by July.[1]

 

True commitment to the idea of All Hazards Response!

The IAFF should be ecstatic.
 

The proposal to merge the police and fire departments, city leaders say, will alleviate budget shortfalls by reducing the public safety budget by $1.8 million yearly beginning in 2017.[1]

 

We should expect to see more cases of this as cities try to save money.

At least the city is not trying to use the ridiculous IAFF excuse of improving care by cross training people in unrelated fields.

We pour water into hypotensive patients and we pour water on a fire. There is no difference.

If you don’t want to drink the All Hazards Kool-Aid, you will just need to find somewhere else to work.
 

The proposal to merge the police and fire departments, city leaders say, will alleviate budget shortfalls by reducing the public safety budget by $1.8 million yearly beginning in 2017.[1]

 

Will the IAFF acknowledge their double standard?

Or will they just view it as a numbers game and try to convert more EMS services to a decreased focus on patient care in order to add fire suppression services?
 

Kevin Kline, president of the Bay City police officers union, told the commission his membership “overwhelmingly” supported the merged department.

“We’re ready to serve the city as public safety officers,” Kline said. “We’re going to continue to give a high level of police and fire protection.”[1]

 

This is just a case of the IAFF message being used against the IAFF.

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it! – Upton Sinclair
 

Why do some people claim that their job is so easy that anyone can do it and another job at the same time?

It isn’t as if we are facing research demonstrating too much competence among paramedics.

As the medical knowledge required to be a paramedic increases, this will become harder to ignore.

Quality does not improve by adding irrelevant requirements.

Footnotes:

[1] Bay City will merge police, fire departments; decision follows heated exchanges
By Justin Engel | jengel1@mlive.com
on December 03, 2012 at 10:07 PM,
updated December 04, 2012 at 10:01 AM
mlive.com
Article

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  1. […] Thanks to Tim from Rogue Medic for popping in and sharing his point of view. Visit his blog to see the article mentioned regarding Fire/Police merger. Click here. […]