Quote:
Originally Posted by Dowly
Slightly OT, but how do the different "branches" (police, firefighters, EMTs etc.) see each other over in the US? Is there mutual respect between all parties, if they happen to be on scene at the same time?
Asking because I recall seeing few videos over the years where the police have been quite aggressive towards (IIRC) firefighters on scene, one I believe was even cuffed in one instance over seemingly small issue.
|
Most of the time we were very respectful of each other, as we often needed support from each other in a variety of situations.
But, sometimes it does not go so well......
I was on a call once, don't remember the nature, but we pulled up at an apartment building. Gentle summer rain falling. PD pulled right in right behind us. We started unloading our gear to head inside, when one of the cops told us we can park there, it was a fire lane. We looked at him like he was crazy, maybe even joking, and proceeded to head inside, when he told us he would write a ticket if we left the truck there. We weren't sure if he was kidding or not, so we radioed for our supervisor to swing by to cover our butts if necessary.
We went in, and treated the patient, who refused transport and signed off. We went back out side, and sure enough, there was a ticket under our wipers. Now note, it was raining, and we had left our wipers on, so the ticket was slowly getting destroyed as the wipers went back and forth.
That's what caused me to laugh at the cop, and apparently he didn't like that. So it quickly started into a yelling match between me and the cop. My partner and his partner were standing on the curb staring at us like they couldn't believe this was happening, I couldn't either.
At this point our Supe rolled in and happened to park between the cop and I, so we were now screaming at each other through the Supe's open windows. He had no idea what he rolled into. Lot's of yelling, and the word arrest was mentioned. That's when I really lost it.
At that point, our parnters got smart. Mine said I was diabetic and was in need of a snack, I almost lost it (laughing) at that, as I knew what he was trying. The cop's partner just pulled the guy away gently.
Threw what was left of the ticket, now just a gooey paper wad, on the ground, got in the squad, and drove off. Never heard anything from it.
Another event happened to a guy a used to work with.
They had dropped off a patient at an ER, and were inside finishing up their paperwork, when their squad decided to drive off without them in it. Apparently a psych patient had walked out the door of the ED, and hopped in the truck.
The cops were called,, and shortly there after, somebody called the cops to say there was a running ambulance parked in their front yard a few blocks from the hospital. So the cops gave the medics a ride over to the their truck. The psych patient got arrested and all was good. Truck was fine, nothing missing.
Until they gave the cop their names for his report. For some reason he decided to run their names over the radio with them standing right there. Turns out one of the medics had an outstanding warrant for something stupid. And he got arrested for it.
Now that case is a cop doing his job too well, he could have just assumed the medics were clean and didn't need to run their names. But instead he chose to do so, in front of them, insulting them (I know I would be). Yes he was correct in doing it, and arresting the guy, but it was bad form.
The first case was just a (young) cop trying to be macho and throw his weight around. He also didn't know when to realize he was in the wrong and back down. I know I worked the guy up by arguing with him, but I was having a rough day and I just didn't want to deal with BS like this, so I vented on him.
That's the problem cops face. They think if they show weakness, people won't respect them, and minor scenarios like this one (and the OP) can snowball into something horrible. In my opinion, law enforcement should start in the field, and if a cop realizes he's made the wrong call, he should be smart enough to admit it, apologize if necessary, and move on.