# Residents Hear Plan to Merge Police and Fire Chiefs



## LGriffin

This Town borders Springfield and last I knew, a large part of the FD was staffed by part timers or volunteer firefighters. They had some interesting characters on there too so this is the last thing a PD Chief needs to deal with on top of his own Department. I believe this idea is as foolish as civilian flaggers and the loss of Quinn. 




East Longmeadow Fire Chief Richard Brady will retire at the end of the year. Instead of selecting a new replacement, selectman Jim Driscoll wants to double dip by having Police Chief Doug Mellis step in to fill the void.

"We look at the bottomline in everything we do, so we look at savings in every single department," Driscoll says.
In a tight economy, all towns are asked to trim where they can, but in this case, East Longmeadow only has 7 firefighters working an 8am-4pm shift.
"The police chief has his issues, the fire chief has his issues. Just one person cannot handle it and it will have a major impact on this town," says former East Longmeadow fire chief, Robert Wallace.
Wallace watched another Bay State town adopt the policy and fail.
"12 months later, they went back to a police chief, fire chief. Both departments fell apart," he says.
Driscoll says that comparison isn't fair because East Longmeadow has a different population. However, the latest census reports East Longmeadow is the third fastest growing town in Hampden County. Nearly 16,000 residents live here and they're saying, now is not the time to skimp on safety.
"I don't think you compromise safety for dollars and I don't think the savings will amount to as much as we were told tonight," says resident Mike Raschilla.
The town will vote on the measure during a May 16th town meeting at the high school.


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## firefighter39

Been there, done that.....BAD idea!!!:skull:

Why not have the DPW chief take over the schools?


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## Guest

I took a Fire Science course as a free elective in my undergrad program, solely because the scheduling worked for me. The one thing I remember about it was that the textbook was the most expensive I've ever had, undergrad or graduate ($140), and that's about it. I remember literally nothing else about the course, because I had no personal interest whatsoever.

Police and fire are both public safety agencies, and that's where the similarity ends. Both agencies need chiefs who have experience with the job, and know the job.


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## niteowl1970

Delta784 said:


> Police and fire are both public safety agencies, and that's where the similarity ends. Both agencies need chiefs who have experience with the job, and know the job.


Jim Driscoll thinks that all police officers do is write parking tickets and all firefighters do is get cats out of trees. It's sad that someone in his position is of such low intellect.


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## csauce777

niteowl1970 said:


> Jim Driscoll thinks that all police officers do is write parking tickets and all firefighters do is get cats out of trees.


Wait...are you saying this isn't true? ;-)


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## firefighter39

csauce777 said:


> Wait...are you saying this isn't true? ;-)


We also cook, nap, wash/wax our cars...

---------- Post added at 10:14 ---------- Previous post was at 10:10 ----------



Delta784 said:


> I took a Fire Science course as a free elective in my undergrad program, *solely because the scheduling worked for me.* .


Brother, now you sound like one of those drug addicts in denial. Making up exscuses. Admiting you have a problem is the first step towards finding a cure!

There is a warm cushy recliner waiting for your...come over to the Red Side!

Admit it man, Your a SPARKY!!!


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## Killjoy

I thought it was illegal to have police officers being forced to do firefighting duties?


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## LGriffin

firefighter39 said:


> We also cook, nap, wash/wax our cars...
> 
> ---------- Post added at 10:14 ---------- Previous post was at 10:10 ----------
> 
> 
> 
> Brother, now you sound like one of those drug addicts in denial. Making up exscuses. Admiting you have a problem is the first step towards finding a cure!
> 
> There is a warm cushy recliner waiting for your...come over to the Red Side!
> 
> Admit it man, Your a SPARKY!!!


Woah, WOAH, settle down MAN! I don't mind having a hoser around here but don't go pushing your sparky junk on us!

I had to take a weather studies course once because it worked out with my schedule but it doesn't mean I have a secret desire to go flinging around side boob while I make small talk about sunshine on NECN. Keep your hose to yourself and we'll all do just fine, friend:wink_smile:


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## Guest

firefighter39 said:


> Brother, now you sound like one of those drug addicts in denial. Making up exscuses. Admiting you have a problem is the first step towards finding a cure!
> 
> There is a warm cushy recliner waiting for your...come over to the Red Side!
> 
> Admit it man, Your a SPARKY!!!


You can worry about earthquakes, tsunamis, and being abducted by aliens, but one thing you'll never have to worry about is me becoming a firefighter.

I couldn't afford the pay cut.

ZING!!! :shades_smile:

---------- Post added at 00:41 ---------- Previous post was at 00:02 ----------



Killjoy said:


> I thought it was illegal to have police officers being forced to do firefighting duties?


It is;

General Laws: CHAPTER 41, Section 97F

Notice how it's only for city and town police.....what size should we put you down for?


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## SinePari

LGriffin said:


> I had to take a weather studies course once because it worked out with my schedule but it doesn't mean I have a secret desire to go *flinging around side boob* while I make small talk about sunshine on NECN.


BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


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## niteowl1970

I think Driscoll went to Pennsylvania recently and saw that down there they have "Fire Police" and got confused.


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## Truck

How could a cop and fireman ever be one in the same. Just driving the truck to the scene would be chaotic. The fireman in me would want to park it across four lanes of travel while the cop in me would want to park out of traffic in the breakdown lane.


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## CJIS

I smell litigations up the ass.


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## Killjoy

> Notice how it's only for city and town police.....what size should we put you down for?


Negative! Better dead than _red!_

Maybe they could also merge in the DPW too? Police/Firefighters can drive street sweepers to call outs:


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## 7costanza

Wolfman said:


> "Send me a whatchacallit!!!"


Here ya go, shouldnt this be in the pot thread though?


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## Guest

Killjoy said:


> Negative! Better dead than _red!_
> 
> Maybe they could also merge in the DPW too? Police/Firefighters can drive street sweepers to call outs:


One of the favorites of my patch collection:


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## Edmizer1

The scariest thing about this whole mess is that the selectmen from my town were at the last meeting on this taking notes.


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## LGriffin

Edmizer1 said:


> The scariest thing about this whole mess is that the selectmen from my town were at the last meeting on this taking notes.


Selectman, always looking for ways to steal money from public safety so they can throw it at bullshit pet projects.


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## BrickCop

Delta784 said:


> You can worry about earthquakes, tsunamis, and being abducted by aliens, but one thing you'll never have to worry about is me becoming a firefighter.


Not to mention the nasty cases of 'bed head' those guys have to endure when it's time to awake and go home.


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## topcop14

Mendon Police/Fire Chief


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## justanotherparatrooper

LGriffin said:


> Woah, WOAH, settle down MAN! I don't mind having a hoser around here but don't go pushing your sparky junk on us!
> 
> I had to take a weather studies course once because it worked out with my schedule but it doesn't mean I have a secret desire to go flinging around side boob while I make small talk about sunshine on NECN. Keep your hose to yourself and we'll all do just fine, friend:wink_smile:


 pictures???


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## NoSoupForYou

damn and I thought a shared police and fire dispatcher was bad


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## justanotherparatrooper

I think they should merge the police with the taxi companies.


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## GD

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3uoVOOlT2s"]YouTube - unbelievable fire truck crash[/nomedia]

This will be me, if they have police acting as firefighters!!!!:banghead:


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## niteowl1970

*Fire and police chief jobs will not be consolidated in East Longmeadow*

Fire and police chief jobs will not be consolidated in East Longmeadow | masslive.com

The controversial warrant article that proposed the consolidation of the fire and police chief jobs in town was not voted on during the annual Town Meeting Monday.

Article 20, which was proposed by Board of Selectmen member James D. Driscoll, was met with resistance from firefighters and residents in town. Many attended a public forum about the consolidation to express their concerns about the possible merger.

Driscoll, who conducted the forum and submitted the article, did not attend the annual Town Meeting on Monday. The article would have joined the positions of fire and police chiefs into one public safety administrator position.

Fellow members Enrico J. Villamaino and Paul Federici voted to take no action on the article during their meeting held an hour before the Town Meeting. Villamaino and Federici never endorsed the article.
"There was such an overwhelming distaste for the article among residents that we decided it would be best to pull it," Villamaino said. "We will certainly continue to look for ways to save money in town, but not at the expense of the residents' sense of safety and security."

*Common sense prevails*


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