Re: Secret Service Legal Question

[Guest guest]

> The president (or his father) may be attending some function and

> the Secret service calls for an ambulance w/o lights and siren but

> the nature of the call or lack of information requires your

> dispatcher to send you emergency. If you go non-emergency and

> something goes wrong, would the responsibility fall on you and your

> service or on the Secret Service?

Andy,

Your service probably needs to have contacts with the SS (either

Houston or Austin offices). Back when Bush Sr. was president, he was

a resident of Houston and when he was in town, we would have a unit

in his motorcades. I was never lucky enough to get this gig (it was

OT - sweet!), but I have talked to many who did get this duty. On

the infrequent visits by President Clinton, we did the same thing,

but I believe most of these were done by inservice units taken out of

service for this purpose (again, I never did this).

I also remember that Bush Sr. spoke at a commencement at A & M when I

was there and I believe that TAMUEMS was involved in meetings with

the SS, along with other agencies (CSFD, university and CS police and

one of the hospitals). The travelling party usually includes a

physician, but I've been told they do defer to the local service in

case of emergencies.

Take care,

Marc Meyer, MS, RN, LP

Engineer/Operator-Paramedic, Houston Fire Department