That really varies by state,city and the dept. Now where I am we are allowed to equip our cars but still have to drive normally. We are allowed some privileges. But all it takes is one person being a cowboy for all of us to lose our privileges also. Keep in mind it is a privilege not a right. Just like our vollie FD , the chief allows us to put lights on our cars, but he will not ok it for us to run firefighter license plates. Which I feel is dumb,but that is an example of how things can vary. All our sister depts in our county and all the EMS people can run firefighter, squad plaes and ema ,ems plates.
I agree with you,it is dumb.