Trooper Again

[Guest guest]

Steve said something very interesting. He mentioned that when he left LE for

EMS some of his former colleagues hinted that he had gone over to " the dark

side. " Which got me to thinking (a dangerous enterprise).

For the sake of argument ONLY I will state this premise: there has

historically been a certain difference in attitude, a sort of level of mistrust,

misunderstanding, and animosity between law enforcement people and EMS people.

My questions: Forgetting about the rules against generalizations, is there

any truth to this premise? If so, why? If it exists what are the reasons

behind it and has it lessened over the years or is there still a widespread

chasm

between the perceptions that LE folks have about us and that we have about

them?

It might be quite interesting to use the OK trooper video as the basis for a

study of perceptions and attitudes among EMS and LE people.

Have LE people watch the video and ask them some questions designed to

uncover their perceptions, interpretations, assumptions and analysis of what

happened. Then have EMS people view it and ask the same questions.

Would we find that there are widely differing perceptions between the two

groups?

Do we bring a certain mindset to what we do that is different from the LE

mindset?

Is this a natural thing, a good thing, a bad thing, or inconsequential?

As a lawyer I know that four witnesses to the same event, standing on four

different corners and watching it, will have significantly different

descriptions of what happened.

I thought the video was valuable to the discussion because it illustrated

that what appears to be true from an observer's standpoint might not necessarily

be true from the participant's standpoint. Also, I felt it valuable as an

illustration of how an incident can escalate out of control. I felt it

important

for EMS people to view it because I think there is significant carryover to

EMS response.

I must differ with Steve in that I do not view this discussion as gossip;

rather I view it as an attempt to gain insight and knowledge for EMS providers

in

a number of different ways.

Our speculation (gossip, if you insist) has led us to think in some depth

about our actions and reactions on an incident scene, or at least it has made me

think about it.

Any others who wonder about the differences in attitude between LE and EMS

folks?

Best,

Gene