Category Archives: Equipment

Paramedics in Body Armor?

Paramedics in Body Armor?

Cleveland EMS units will now need to wear body armor during calls for service in the field.

Effective December 21, 2015 the Cleveland EMS Director ordered her employees to begin wearing their issued bullet-proof vests while on calls in the field. For example, Paramedics would be required to wear the personal protective equipment while responding to a medical emergency at an apartment complex but not at court or at the hospital. Though the EMS Director stated that no specific threats have been made against the department, she did cite incidents in other jurisdictions (such as Detroit) where Paramedics had been attacked. In the public safety community we have always known that first responders (i.e. police, fire, ems) are potential secondary targets of attacks; however, we don’t always see them as potential targets at rather routine call for service–such as the infamous “difficulty breathing” call that always seemed to come about the time I was scheduled to go home.

This is the first EMS service I could find that has started requiring body armor during all calls for service. One of the big questions is what happens if someone takes their body armor off to better perform their duties during a medical response? Are they still able to receive workman compensation benefits? This will be a muddy area that may find precedent from the law enforcement community.

Government and Social Media Webinar

Social Media and Law Enforcement Webinar

This great webinar covers various aspects of what Law Enforcement (and Emergency Management) agencies should be thinking about when it comes to interacting on Social Media.

Emergency Management Magazine hosted a Webinar on February 19th, 2015, sponsored by ArchiveSocial. I got the chance to review this webinar recently and found it incredibly eyeopening as to all the legal issues that could arise when it comes to a government agency having a social media presence. Though the webinar is relatively light on the actual statute and case law specifics lawyers have come to know and love, the three speakers bring up several good policy considerations for Law Enforcement and Emergency Management professionals.

The speakers include Lauri Stevens, Principal Consultant and Founder of LAwS Communications and Anil Chawla, Founder and CEO of ArchiveSocial. The webinar is moderated by Morgan Write, a National Media Technology Analyst and Senior Fellow for the Center for Digital Government.

The entire webinar is just at an hour long and is well worth the view. To register and view a recording of this free webinar, visit Emergency Management Magazine’s website here.

– Will

 

President Bans Some Military Equipment Sales to Police

President Bans Some Military Equipment Sales to Police

President Obama announced on May 18th that the federal government would cease the flow of certain types of equipment to police departments following the recommendations of a multi-agency working group on the subject.

President Obama announced on May 18th, 2015 that the federal government would cease the flow of certain types of equipment to police departments through the federal surplus programs. The announcement follows one of several recommendations made by a multi-agency federal working group tasked with reviewing what could have been done different or better following the riots in Ferguson, Missouri.

Specifically, the program would no longer allow for tracked armored vehicles, bayonets, grenade launchers, camouflage uniforms, and large-caliber weapons and ammunition to flow through these programs to police departments. The programs would still be allowed to still provide aircraft, wheeled tactical vehicles, mobile command centers, battering rams, and riot gear. This equipment would be provided to departments who meet national policing standards and agree to not transfer or sell the equipment unless they receive approval from the federal government.

Though they have not been fully written, other recommendations made by the working group will go into effect with the new fiscal year on October 1st. The thing agencies should be aware and ready to work with is that the programs will now require that agencies adopt “robust and specific written policies and protocols covering not just the use of the federal equipment, but their policing practices in general.”

Though many might think this is a sudden and new idea of limiting the flow of military surplus to police departments and other law enforcement agencies, many states have been looking at ways to control what type of equipment their law enforcement agencies would be allowed to obtain through the federal surplus programs. (Read our prior post about control measures the states are looking at here)

Emergency Managers and Law Enforcement Planners should be aware of these federal recommendations and state control measures as they are implemented. I estimate that we will start seeing these rules start going out in draft format later this summer ahead of the fiscal year. Most importantly though, it might be a wise decision to sit down with the agency’s legal counsel to lean forward and assess the potential impact these control measures will have on your agency’s plans, protocols, and overall operating procedures.

– Will

Read USA Today’s Full Article here.

Read our article on state’s actions to control surplus military equipment sales here.