jr51070

General rant not directed at any one municipality:

We had inadequate snow removal, potholes everywhere, understaffed and underfunded emergency services yet we live in the most expensive county in the stratosphere. Where is it all going ?

I ask this every day. It is crazy.

Better off not using it, can get places faster. People see the light and slow down, stop, etc....

They do everything BUT move out of the way or give you courtesy

I didn't ask a question.

Peekskill and New Rochelle is dispatched by 60-Control. I think New Rochelle qualifies as a major city.

The question wasn't about 60-Control DOING police dispatch. The question was whether or not their staffing was changing as more departments leave the local PD dispatch and opt for 60-Control to do it.

OK. Still confused about your 2nd question though.

Along with the above, does anyone know how many structure fires 60 can handle at one time? Are they adequately staffed to pick up more departments going away from police dispatch?

60 Control does not do PD dispatch. They are FD. County Police Dispatch is picking up dispatch for departments like Kisco and Tuckahoe in the evening/overnights.

How many calls a year do both departments do?

Also curious....does 60 Control have a dedicated call taker position?

How is the room broken up? North South? Are the departments split about even between dispatchers?

I would imagine New Rochelle has its own dispatcher?

All the major cities have their own dispatch.

The first heli was purchased with a combination of funds. A source I know involved with the 2nd told me that they had to use the money on the 2nd heli, maybe they had it earmarked for that, and that is why he said that they had to get the heli. Either way, irrelavent. The staffing is still the same level and only 1 is used at a time, so the extra expense is minimal. The County already has everything else they need, a new communication/command vehicle, ESU trucks, a small Navy, etc. The only thing I can see them spending all that money on would be new cars, but, I was told that the County buys those cars and they do not use grants, etc to purchase them, though I am not sure why. The County has stashes of cars all over the place anyway, some that have been sitting for a long time.

The funds were given to the County specifically for another helicopter, another case of use it or lose it.

There are 2. Both were obtained through grants, do not blame them, blame the US Government for the way they do things. The 3rd bird is around in pieces. They did not cost the County anything for the actual birds.

Piece of the "pie?" Who said there was any "pie?" I doubt this officer is getting any $$$ out of this. This guy's actions is why people do not feel inclined to do good deeds, because it always has to become something more. The officer did a great thing, this guy has some nerve, sorry!

At the risk of beating a dead horse, an agency CAN, if they so choose, issue RLS to EVERY EMT and Medic in the agency. Is it good policy, no, but from a strictly legal standpoint, it can be done.

I am not argueing that point, my question is did they have the proper credentials? Is there more to this story? Did somebody report them driving like morons, which by the way, they do. I also know how they operate and agree with all the other posters that say they operate as they see fit and want to. They self-dispatch to calls 30, 40, even 50 miles from their base without being asked. As far as I am concerned, they are emergency chasers who just want to drive around with lights and sirens on. I see them driving with their lights and sirens in POV's just to bypass traffic all the time. I see some of their POV's lit up like Christmas trees. Was Hatzolah called for this emergency or did they self-dispatch? I can tell you this, they are in that area to serve the jewish communities and that locality has their own volunteer ambulance operation. Maybe they showed up unannounced and unwanted and finally ticked somebody off. I do not know the facts or answers...just saying.

Not all EMT and emergency personel are permitted red lights. As a matter of fact, in most jurisdictions most have green lights except Paramedics a few select chose for whatever reasons, such as rank. Did they have the proper authority and credentials? I have to say that I see a lot of them running around with red lights in their vehicles and I do wonder how they all get such authority/permission to have them. I see abuse of the red lights by them on a regular basis on Rt. 17 to bypass traffic congestion and to get others to move over so they can speed past.

That date above is correct. Live 5 minutes away from there and went by last weekend and saw the sign.

This course offered by WCDES is just an introduction for local firefighters and is not the 40 hour class required for ARFF personnel (as per FAR 139.319). However I am surprised airport personel were not allowed at the FTC.

Understand, still better then what we got. Sometime it took years before you got to the class, some never went. The rational behind not letting us attend the FTC is we were not really County employees, the County airport was, not sure if it is, run under contract. Always seemed absurd, since the services we provided were int he County's best interest.

WOW. When I was part of the HPN Brigade/Airport Ops we had to go to Cincinnati for training. They County gave nothing at all. That was back in the days when we dumped barrels of oil and diesel and burned it on the North part of the airport for training. Those days are long gone. We wer enot even permitted to train at the County Fire Academy or take any county FD training, al political nonsense.

I have my boat on Greenwood Lake and have seen this many times, pretty neat piece of equipment.

Stewart is too far away from the populated areas and the mid-hudson valley does not have the population to ever create a larger airport then it already is. Also, no matter what kind of transport they put to Stewart from the populated areas around NYC, it will not solve the problem that it takes that much longer to get to then any of the other local airports.

I was very surprised at those close up photos. I have seen it all so it was not that bad for me, except, I did not realize they were that close up. Since her family had a big hand in this show, I am pretty curious on why they would allow or want those photos in it. Seems "odd" to me. Bottom line, no matter why she did it, and I have no thoughts, and I am pretty confident my thoughts are pretty close to the truth, she was driving drunk and high and killed 8 people. 100% to blame, no matter what or how she go to that point.

"There is Something Wrong with Aunt Diane" ....Hmmm, Yep, she was high and drunk and drving the wrong way.

Great links to all the studies. I do not agree though, and that is just me. A single red rotating light just, to me, does not stand out enough with all the other red lights out there, especially tail and brakelights. I think the new combination of red and blue rear facing, in NY, hes been a huge improvement in safety and visibility, along with tailight and rear window strobes. Again, just my opinion. Howver, I do agree that the new lights and equipment can quickly get expensive.

I'm usually the first one to associate posts with politics but this time I have to throw a flag on the play. To think that Rob astorino has any say with the color scheme on the county police cars is pure nonsense.

I was involved in a pursuit that the county PD had in Yonkers the other night and that was the first time I had seen the new colors and after ribbing a county cop I knew about them converting to the colors of the new york mets ( which I totally agree with) I told those guys that I liked the new colors. The colors look sharp and professional and they stand out. This is one topic that politics can 100% be left out of. The amount of money spent on the new colors is negligible compared to what the county spends on welfare, section 8, etc.... I would rather see the money go to the PD all day !!!!

Perfectly stated!

I remember seeing a pic (somehwere) of the blue and white scheme, but with the door stripes surrounding the patch and just "County Police" on the lower part of the doors. I'll try to find it.

What are the white domes on the trunk?

They experimented with a few different schemes, both blue and white, but some difference in stripping, this was the final one chosen.

I like all white with the same stripping they are using on the new scheme cars, like NJSP.

I remember seeing a pic (somehwere) of the blue and white scheme, but with the door stripes surrounding the patch and just "County Police" on the lower part of the doors. I'll try to find it.

What are the white domes on the trunk?

GPS and computer. Maybe Lojack, not sure about that though.

Glad our county is in a fiscal crisis according to Rob Astorino... You look at their parking lot and see all new cars, trucks, whatever they need I guess... I hear they even paid to repaint some of the newer white cars. No, that's not wasteful spending. Nice job Rob!

Wrong. They are not and have not repainted any white cars the 2 tone colors.

I'm not in our fleet management so I am not 100% certain. But, what I do know is that all the blue/white cars are brand new and were just placed in service this month. The only repaint that I know of was a car that was returning from the body shop and had to be repainted anyway. Our department has also been doing repainting of retired patrol cars so they can be used by our detectives or other units. So instead of buying new unmarked cars, when a patrol car is removed from front line patrol service, it may be repainted and reassigned. I'm told that by doing this they're extending the useful life of cars and saving money on new ones. This may be the repainting that everyone is buzzing about.

They are not repainting any current white cars to match this scheme. They current scheme will be phased out over the next few years.