Police as First Responders

[wwrescueEMT]

In the city where I am a volunteer EMT our police officers are incredible. All of them are certified as first responders and go through a lot of training, sometimes even go through some trainings with us, to keep up their skills and increase the amount of stuff they can do to help us. Only once during the time i've been on this department has the ambulance beaten the cops to a scene, and that was only because we were about half a block away....even then they pulled in right after us.
By the time we get on scene, (in the city it takes us apprx. 5-10 minutes from dispatch time to patient contact) the police have about half of our work already done for us... they have the patients on oxygen (if needed), they have names, ages, addresses, meds, history, signs and symptoms and any other info they regularly hear us asking for. They are always more than happy to lend a hand with lifting, packaging and transporting. In cases of trauma, the worst of the bleeding is almost always controlled and bandaged properly. In addition to all of this, sometimes the only reason we can find a scene is because of the squad cars out front.
Gotta love them cops.

So what I was wondering is how do the police departments work along with rescue in the area where you're from?

 

[Hastings]

Well, dispatch automatically sends the police on any potentially dangerous call automatically to secure the scene. They're all trained as medical first responders, and are very helpful in initial assessment and treatment. Otherwise, on calls considered safe, it's the regular fire department. Which do I prefer? Honestly, the police.

 

[KEVD18]

very rarely do i find the police helpful on scene, aside from the aforementioned marking of which house. most of the time i get canarys on scene, they just jumped the call to get out of doing whatever it is they are supposed to be doing(usually traffic). they never do anything to help us and mere get in my way. the only exception i have encountered here is the boston university pd. they are a great group of guys and they are very helpful.

 

[MagicTyler]

I think an emt-b course should be included with every police academy, or at least a pre req.

 

[stephenrb81]

I can't recall when I last saw an officer using any first responder skills at any area I've responded two between my two services. Now, I do appreciate their presence even if it is nothing more than passive scene control or location identification.

 

[emtphil]

There were quite a few cops in my EMT-B class in Boston. One of them was a cop in Nahant, MA, which is a small peninsula on the north shore. According to him, all cops in Nahant had to be cross-trained as EMTs.

 

[BossyCow]

I've had both helpful and helpless cops on scene. My favorite was a Sheriff's Sgt. It was just me and him on a head injury, fall from a horse. He was right in there with 'what can I do' and then when I told him, did it. Had him holding c-spine for me. Tough part was getting him to know when his job was done and it was time to let the responding volunteers take over for him.

Guy is now the SGT for my SAR unit.

 

[ILemt]

In this area, all Police Departments tell their officers to let EMS handle everything to avoid liability.

Aside from going into a scene to make sure its secure before our arrival, they generally don't do much.

 

[TheMowingMonk]

Yeah id say all the departments that I usually interact with just kinda stand back and watch us, unless we directly ask them to give a hand they dont like to get involved with the exception of one city, but that is because all of their cops are also firefighters and have the EMT-B

 

[karaya]

I've been commissioned to shoot the cover for an upcoming EMS textbook. As my editor was describing what she wanted in the image, I was getting excited of all of the images we have on file to meet her request. My excitement quickly declined when she said, "Oh, and police need to be in the image assisting with patient care."

Well, crap. We have images of cops on the scene doing their thing, but images of them involved with patient care is as rare as an honest Senator.

To meet the request, we have to stage an incident that depicts EMS, fire and police.

Ray

 

[Jon]

Where I work, my EMS agency supplies EMS equipment to the local PD, and we restock them as needed. Some of the platoons are more into providing medical care than others... but when I walk in the door on a ALS patient, they are usually on O2 and they've got some medical history for us. Before we leave the scene, we replace their O2 supplies, including a new bottle if needed.

They worry about police work first... but they are almost always there first, and they are also always ready to lend a hand with lifting/moving the patient, or bringing the cot to the door, or moving the ambulance around to the back door so we have a straight shot out.

 

[MMiz]

Back in Michigan many police officers were Public Safety Officers, meaning they were Police, Fire, and EMT-Basic. They would handle a scene until EMS arrived or the Fire Department showed up. In the more rural areas it was usually Police, Fire, and EMT-Paramedic.

That seems like an ideal solution... until you have a fire. I'm not sure what a couple of guys can do until the FD shows up, but I guess it doesn't hurt to have them trained.

 

[MJordan2121]

Where I reside, the police are usually on the scene maintaining some kind of sanity (especially on those patients who want to be wild) and making sure our scene is secure. Our local FD's are usually the first responders, very rarely do we make it there before them. We usually pull up on scene about 5-10 minutes of the call, unless it is out in the rural areas up north of us.

 

[Uncle Howie]

I’m stationed in a State facility in Southern California. Our community officers are quite willing to use their First Aid and CPR training when needed. I had one assist me in an off-grounds code a few years back and he did a great job. Unfortunately the officers at my facility are not so willing in most instances. We do have one exception. He was first on scene at a pvt. plane crash on grounds a few years back. He had a small first aid kit in his unit’s trunk, but that was it. He did what he could until EMS got there. He came to me at his EOW and related the story. I was both surprised and pleased that he asked for more training than was normally required for our officers. We got him into our advanced classes and provided him with a small jump kit for his unit before the week was out. He is still the only officer we have who is willing to respond as a participant in our on-grounds call-outs.

 

[Oregon]

I live in a big county, mostly rural or flat out wilderness, and it is not unusual for the law enforcement rangers and sheriff's deputies to be the only responders for 15 minutes to half an hour or so. My favorite deputy is an EMT-B and carries more stuff than my SAR group does.
Thank goodness those guys don't usually mind getting their hands dirty.
Heck, one deputy brought a guy back with CPRB)
Guy walked out of the hospital within days.
How cool is that?

 

[VentMedic]

Back in Michigan many police officers were Public Safety Officers, meaning they were Police, Fire, and EMT-Basic. They would handle a scene until EMS arrived or the Fire Department showed up. In the more rural areas it was usually Police, Fire, and EMT-Paramedic.

Florida had many Public Safety Departments and still has a couple within the state.

In Broward County, Florida, the Sheriff's Office oversees Fire Rescue.
Even if Fire and Police are separate, the bond is there and some special services do overlap.

Trauma Star HEMS is under the Sheriff's office in Monroe County. The road deputies do carry AEDs and may be the first responders since there can be lengthy response times for EMS.

Back in the early 1980s when AEDs first become available, highway patrol officers in a couple of states started carrying them and had EMT-B as well. In some areas, AEDs are standard equipment.

The conflict comes is when there is a concern for the greater public safety and providing medical care to the injured or ill person.

 

[Ridryder911]

We used to have a Police based EMS in one the neighboring cities. It was that way until about 10 years ago. In fact it is in the home of one of the nationally known college football team with about 200,000 people that live there. I worked as a Paramedic/Officer full time at one time. They performed all rescue services except of course fire suppression. All line officers were actual trained first responders and even some were ALS providers with the ability to intubate, IV therapy etc. Fire Department was NEVER called upon, except for wash downs and fire suppression.

Personally, I liked it better than having it associated with the FD. They knew their role as well as we never had trouble in protection either physical or blocking traffic. The response times were faster, and personally thought the public perception was much better.

The city has now placed the EMS in the City Hospital but there still is a close connection between the PD more so than the FD (although now, the FD provides the rescue). Medics are involved in their tactical teams, and assists in many projects. All of the patrol officers are still first responders and respond to appropriate calls.

R/r 911

 

[jordanfstop]

In my county, there is usually an officer or two respond to the medicals, unless it's at a nursing home. There are two police departments we interact with here, village (underpaid, deal with a high crime area) and town (highly paid, deal with a little bit of crime.) Both departments are usually good with gaining pedigree information (Name, DOB, address, phone, sometimes SSN, and a quick assessment/PMHx) Sometimes they'll throw a NRB on anybody. The big difference is with the village and town department and trauma. The village dept will usually bandage wounds, assist with carrying items/patients, help with crowd control, and stay with us until we're gone. The town dept will just sit in their car and leave when they feel like it. When it comes down to it though, both depts carry BVMs, AEDs, and can do CPR with it's necessary instead of just yelling over the air for us to "step it up."

 

[firecoins]

In my county, there is usually an officer or two respond to the medicals, unless it's at a nursing home. There are two police departments we interact with here, village (underpaid, deal with a high crime area) and town (highly paid, deal with a little bit of crime.) Both departments are usually good with gaining pedigree information (Name, DOB, address, phone, sometimes SSN, and a quick assessment/PMHx) Sometimes they'll throw a NRB on anybody. The big difference is with the village and town department and trauma. The village dept will usually bandage wounds, assist with carrying items/patients, help with crowd control, and stay with us until we're gone. The town dept will just sit in their car and leave when they feel like it. When it comes down to it though, both depts carry BVMs, AEDs, and can do CPR with it's necessary instead of just yelling over the air for us to "step it up."

Ramapo has its ups and downs.

 

[himynameismj]

The cops in the town I work in are great. We get to a CPR, they're already performing it. We get to an accident, we already have a basic assessment. Could not ask for more.