Friday’s Heroes: Remembering The Fallen

Friday's Heroes - Remembering the fallen officers

 

The Graveyard Shift extends our condolences to the families of these brave officers.

Officer Rolando Tirado, 37

Buckeye Arizona Police Department

May 1, 2011 – Officer Rolando Tirado was shot and killed during a traffic stop. While speaking with the driver of the vehicle, apassenger got out of the SUV, walked around the rear of the car, and shot Officer Tirado from behind. A second officer at the scene engaged in a shootout with the gunman, and during the firefight the suspect was killed. The second officer received multiple gunshot wounds and was transported to the hospital in critical condition.

Officer Tirando is survived by his wife and two children.

Captain Ralph Braden, 58

Wartburg Tennessee Police Department

May 2, 2011 – On April 22, 2011, Captain Ralph Braden attempted to arrest a suspect at the scene of a domestic dispute. He was injured during a scuffle with the suspect, and ten days later succumbed to injuries sustained during the arrest. Captain Braden was a 22-year veteran with the Wartburg Police Department.

*65 police officers have been killed in the line of duty since January 1, 2011.

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Drugs: What They’re Called On The Street

Drugs: What They're Called On The Street

Some say tomato, some say tomahto. I like potato, you like potahto. You say cocaine, he says…Aunt Nora? That’s right, Aunt Nora. And that’s just one of the street names for cocaine. And there are many.

Most undercover cops will tell you that their assignment is sometimes a strange one, because they not only have to learn to “walk the walk,” they also have to learn an entirely new language—the street drug language. If the UC (undercover) doesn’t use the correct terminology for a drug in specific area then his cover is almost certain to be blown. Therefore, it is imperative that the officer study his subjects and their mannerisms and speech before approaching them. Can you imagine what would happen if an undercover officer walked up to a drug runner and asked, “May I please purchase a large quantity of d-lysergic acid diethylamide? I believe you cats call it acid out here on the mean streets.” Yeah, that would work…

So, to help your characters fit in a little better than our guy above, here are a few street names for, or relating to, illegal drugs.

Cocaine

Aunt Nora

Angie

Aspirin (powder cocaine)

Balling (hiding packaged cocaine in body cavities).

Base crazies -desperately and frantically searching on hands and knees for small amounts of spilled cocaine or bits of crack cocaine.

Behind the Scale – selling or packaging cocaine.

Beiging – altering cocaine with chemicals to make it appear of a higher quality, or purity.

Bernie, Bernie’s flakes, Bernie’s dust

Birdie powder

Blast

Blizzard

Blow

Booster – inhaling cocaine

Brick – one kilo of cocaine

C

Caine

California cornflakes

Candy

Carrie

Cecil

Chippy

Coconut

Crack

Crack cocaine

Mo

Monster

Witch

Zip

Marijuana

African

African Black

Airplane

Angola

Ashes

Baby

Bale

Bamba

Bammy

Bar

Bash

Black

BoBo

Boom

Broccoli

Catnip

Cest

Chiba chiba

Chunky

Clam Bake – sitting inside a small enclosed space ( a car, etc.) while smoking marijuana

Don Juan

Firewood

Giggle smoke

Greens

Jane

Macaroni

Mow the grass – smoke marijuana

Root

Salad

Oxycontin and Oxycodone

Hillbilly heroin

Cotton

OC

Pills

Rohypnol

Forget Me Pill

Lunch money drug

Mexican Valium

Roaches

Roofies

Rope

Ruffles

Wolfies

Methamphetamine

Beannies

Blade

Bling

Boo

Chalk (also refers to cocaine)

Chrome

Clear

Cinnamon

Crank

Cris

Crystal

Hot ice

Meth

Pink

Pink elephants

Rock

Sparkle

Tick tick

Tina

Work

 

 

 

 

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Firefighter Joe Collins: They’re Not All "Fire Trucks"

Joe Collins: They're all not fire trucks

 

I’m a twelve-year veteran firefighter/paramedic in the busiest volunteer fire department in our county. I hold numerous fire and EMS certifications—many of the same as professional firefighters. My day job is as a Critical Care Paramedic in the highest call volume EMS service in Iowa.

As a firefighter, it’s annoying to hear some of the terminology used by writers and civilians—everyone seems to think that all fire apparatus they see or write about is a “fire truck.”

This is a fire truck also called an “Aerial,” “Hook and Ladder,” “Ladder” or simply a “Tower” It carries ladders, lots and lots of ladders. This particular truck, “Tower 1” besides the 105 foot hydraulic ladder with a basket, also carries ladders ranging from forty-foot to six-foot.

The “Truck Company” is responsible for searching for and rescuing victims, protecting surrounding buildings—exposures, confining the fire to keep it from spreading, helping to put out the fire, ventilation and overhaul. Ventilation is where holes are cut in the roof to release heat and smoke in the building to make rescue and knocking down the fire easier. It is one of the most dangerous and technically difficult jobs on a truck company—standing on the roof of a burning building with a chain saw cutting holes hoping that the roof doesn’t collapse under you. Overhaul means making sure that the fire is completely extinguished by pulling down walls and ceilings to make the scene “safe” so the fire investigation can begin. They also do the best they can to protect undamaged property from water and smoke. If a fire is considered too dangerous to do an interior attack, they will then dump water on it from the top—a.k.a “surround and drown” as shown in the picture below.

A truck really doesn’t carry much water, if any at all and if it needs water, it can hook up a hydrant or an engine. Ours carries 250 gallons and is primary job is to support the engine.

Some of the equipment carried on a truck which may not be carried on an engine are several types of power saws, force-able entry tools, tarps, ventilation fans, rescue tools, water vacuums, and squeegee’s.

This is a fire engine also known as a “pumper.” It is what is used most of the time to actually put out the fire—usually by doing a “Fast Attack” which is where the “Engine Company” grabs pre-connected hoses and does an interior attack to put out as much fire as they can before more water is provided by hooking into a hydrant or a water tanker arrives. Interior attack are also very dangerous and are done in dark, hot, smokey and very dangerous environments. Our “Engine 1” carries 1,500 gallons because we often work in rural areas that don’t have hydrants. City based engines often only carry five-hundred gallons of water.

The Engine Company also does search and rescue, providing water to other apparatus or the sprinkler system in the building, exposure protection, and sometimes overhaul. It also carries a great deal of hose varying from five-inch supply lines to 1-3/4 inch attack lines.

A great deal of coordination is required between the Engine Company and the Truck Company to rescue victims, quickly knock down the fire to minimize the damage to the structure and provide for the safety of firefighters and the public. In the chaos of a structure fire, none of these tasks are easy and require a high degree of training, communication and experience to make it all work smoothly.

There are also a number of other vehicles used by fire departments. In our department we have a heavy rescue/pumper, a tanker/pumper that carries three-thousand gallons of water, and two brush trucks. Other departments also have vehicles including Haz-Mat, command vehicles, rehab, technical rescue, ATV’s, ambulances, air trucks, quints and others too numerous to mention.

This is a quick overview of the subject and the functions of various fire apparatus. The names and uses often vary depending on local conventions—at our department we have a tanker, out West, it’s often called a water tender.

I am always happy to answer questions about what a fire department does and how they do it at mfross@derbyworks.net.

Please check out our department at http://www.eldridgefire.com/ and consider supporting your local department, professional or volunteer in whatever way you can.

*Joe will be back again next week to talk about the various equipment used at the scene of automobile crashes.

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Castle: To Live And Die In L.A. – A Review

Castle: To Live And Die In L.A.

Was it worth the wait? Was this episode all the network promised? Did the magic of California bring Castle and Beckett together (you know what I mean)? Well, let’s see what Melanie has to say about the lovey-dovey stuff before I get into the legality of cops shooting unarmed people in the back. Take it away, Melanie…

With the long wait between original episodes, this one was hyped to within an inch of its life. Fans have been going crazy with speculation, especially after sneak peeks were released last week. I have to admit that I was anticipating more closeness between Beckett and Castle… nothing exactly earth shaking, but more than the rushed parts they gave us.

I know Lee wasn’t pleased with Beckett’s actions out of her own jurisdiction, and that part of the show didn’t thrill me either. I was more into the relationship aspects, though.

The major points that jumped out at me were:

• Rick was concerned about Kate’s reaction to Royce’s death.

• He booked a seat on the same flight with her to L.A. when she decided to go rogue, upgraded her to first class, and convinced her to stay in the suite he’d booked downtown.

• He provided her with a cover story, i.e. the Nikki Heat movie.

• The scene in the suite when the two of them had eye sex right there on the couch, and then Kate jumped and ran. That sneak peek killed me, because it stopped when Kate opened the door. So much speculation — then Rick wasn’t there when she came back out. Grrr! Still, she did make open the door. Amazing.

• Kate donned a swimsuit to lure their prey, a man named Ganz, to her side at his hotel pool, and ended up knocking Rick for a loop, too. The look on his face when she came out of the pool was priceless. I wanted to hand him a napkin to wipe off the drool.

• Kate poked him because he’d put himself in Ganz’s line of sight and caused her to rush her story… but then told him “I want to kiss you” when she found out he’d taken a picture of the list of Ganz’s recent calls. Rick looked as if he were ready to take her up on it.

• Royce’s letter to Kate. To me, this was the best part — when her mentor speaks from the grave, telling her: “And now for the hard part, kid. It’s clear that you and Castle have something real, and you’re fighting it. But trust me… putting the job ahead of your heart is a mistake. Risking our hearts is why we’re alive. The last thing you want is to look back on your life and wonder if only…” And then she turned her gaze on Rick as he slept.

Their relationship is moving forward, one baby step at a time. I liked that part, although I was kind of disappointed in the episode as a whole. Too much case, not enough great moments like the one on the couch with Rick and Kate. Just sayin’. Bring on the romance, please!

Okay, my turn. And I’ll be brief.

And I can be brief since most of this was filmed in LA., or should I say La-La Land, which is apparently where Lanie thought she was during the filming of the show. Yep, there was plenty of great Lanie nonsense (Lanie pictured above in her full M.E. attire) floating around the TV screen last night.

My favorite Lanie line of the week – “He was shot in the leg. Judging from the blood trail it must’ve broken the bone.” Gee, Lanie, I wish I’d known that broken leg bone blood was different than blood in other parts of the body, and in non-broken legs. Give me a “break!”

The whole “cop going rogue” thing is something you see in a lot of books, and now Beckett has done the same. Well, in reality (I know, this show is fiction) that sort of thing doesn’t happen. BUT, cops go to other jurisdictions all the time, and they do so as part of their investigations. They can visit with people, ask them questions, etc., just like they do back in their own territory. What they can’t do is legally arrest someone, because their police powers don’t travel with them, unless they’re federal officers. Officers normally check in with the locals to let them know they’re in town working on a case. And, the locals normally tag along because they know the area, the people, and for safety. Besides, it’s cop courtesy to let the local department know you’re out there poking around.

Of course, Beckett carried things to the extreme when she broke into someone’s house (she travels with lock picks?) and refused to play nice with the LAPD detective. In L.A., Beckett was merely a private citizen who could have been arrested for the B&E. But, that’s where more cop courtesy came into play. And, yes, the LA detective had every right and reason to call Beckett’s boss.

The only other tiny item I’m going to point out (Melanie covered everything nicely) is the thing about shooting a fleeing felon. The question comes up all the time, so here goes.

Can a police officer shoot a fleeing felon, even if he’s unarmed? And that’s what happened on the show last night. Beckett shot an unarmed suspect in the back as he ran away. Well, I am going to leave out the part about her being outside her jurisdiction when she shot the guy.

So, the answer to the question is a normal “law-type” answer…Yes and No.

Calibre Press summed up the two answers nicely in this article:

You cannot lawfully shoot a fleeing felon. True or False?

Surprise! The answer to this question is both true and false. You may lawfully shoot a

fleeing felon if certain conditions are met: Do you have probable cause to believe that a

felony has been committed and that the fleeing person did it? Is it a felony that involves

violence or the threat of violence? Does the suspect present a danger of violence or the

threat of violence to the public and/or other officers if not stopped? Was a warning given,

if practical? Did the suspect ignore or refuse to follow direction from you, if it was

practical to attempt verbal compliance? See Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985).

 

Where the circumstances do not fit these conditions, you may not use deadly force to stop

a fleeing felon. The involvement of violence, threatened or actual, is key.

 

Calibre Press Street Survival Newsline

February 28, 2008 – Number 867

Now, were each of those conditions met last night? Maybe so, maybe no.

Could Beckett legally shoot the guy in the back as he ran away from her? Test your knowledge.

1. Did the suspect have to obey her order to stop (did she give the command to stop)? She’s not a police officer in L.A., right? Remember, she was NOT there, officially. Or was she acting as an officer since she was with the LAPD officers (even though she did NOT have permission to be there on behalf of the NYPD)?

2. Did she have actual probable cause to believe the suspect had committed a felony? If so, what was the PC?

3. Was there a continuing and actual threat of real danger to the public if she didn’t shoot him?

Finally, why wasn’t there some sort of investigation into Beckett shooting the suspect? Imagine what an LAPD officer would have to go through if they simply discharged a weapon, not to mention actually shooting someone. But, Beckett and crew were all smiles afterward as if it were simply another sunny California day.

And, for fun…

The movie version of Ryan and Esposito. Not even close…

 

Save

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Joe Collins

 

I’m a twelve-year veteran firefighter/paramedic in the busiest volunteer fire department in our county. I hold numerous fire and EMS certifications—many of the same as professional firefighters. My day job is as a Critical Care Paramedic in the highest call volume EMS service in Iowa.

 

As a firefighter, it’s annoying to hear some of the terminology used by writers and civilians—everyone seems to think that all fire apparatus they see or write about is a “fire truck.”

This is a fire truck also called an “Aerial,” “Hook and Ladder,” “Ladder” or simply a “Tower” It carries ladders, lots and lots of ladders. This particular truck, “Tower 1” besides the 105 foot hydraulic ladder with a basket,  also carries ladders ranging from forty-foot to six-foot.

 

The “Truck Company” is responsible for searching for and rescuing victims, protecting surrounding buildings—exposures, confining the fire to keep it from spreading, helping to put out the fire, ventilation and overhaul. Ventilation is where holes are cut in the  roof  to release heat and smoke in the building to make rescue and knocking down the fire easier. It is one of the most dangerous and technically difficult jobs on a truck company—standing on the roof of a burning building with a chain saw cutting holes hoping that the roof doesn’t collapse under you. Overhaul means making sure that the fire is completely extinguished by pulling down walls and ceilings to make the scene “safe” so the fire investigation can begin. They also do the best they can to protect undamaged property from water and smoke. If a fire is considered too dangerous to do an interior attack, they will then dump water on it from the top—a.k.a “surround and drown” as shown in the picture below.

 

A truck really doesn’t carry much water, if any at all and if it needs water, it can hook up a hydrant or an engine. Ours carries 250 gallons and is primary job is to support the engine.

 

Some of the equipment carried on a truck which may not be carried on an engine are several types of power saws, force-able entry tools, tarps, ventilation fans, rescue tools, water vacuums, and squeegee’s.

This is a fire engine also known as a “pumper.” It is what is used most of the time to actually put out the fire—usually by doing a “Fast Attack” which is where the “Engine Company”  grabs pre-connected hoses and does an interior attack to put out as much fire as they can before more water is provided by hooking into a hydrant or a water tanker arrives. Interior attack are also very dangerous and are done in dark, hot, smokey and very dangerous environments. Our “Engine 1” carries 1,500 gallons because we often work in rural areas that don’t have hydrants. City based engines often only carry five-hundred gallons of water.

The Engine Company also does search and rescue, providing water to other apparatus or the sprinkler system in the building, exposure protection, and sometimes overhaul. It also carries a great deal of hose varying from five-inch supply lines to 1-3/4 inch attack lines.

A great deal of coordination is required between the Engine Company and the Truck Company to rescue  victims, quickly knock down the fire to minimize the damage to the structure and provide for the safety of firefighters and the public. In the chaos of a structure fire, none of these tasks are easy and require a high degree of training, communication and experience to make it all work smoothly.

There are also a number of other vehicles used by fire departments. In our department we have a heavy rescue/pumper, a tanker/pumper that carries three-thousand gallons of water, and two brush trucks. Other departments also have vehicles including Haz-Mat, command vehicles, rehab, technical rescue, ATV’s, ambulances, air trucks, quints and others too numerous to mention.

This is a quick overview of the subject and the functions of various fire apparatus. The names and uses often vary depending on local conventions—at our department we have a tanker, out West, it’s often called a water tender.

I am always happy to answer questions about what a fire department does and how they do it at (mfross@derbyworks.net).

 

 

 

 

Please check out our department at (http://www.eldridgefire.com/) and consider supporting your local department, professional or volunteer in whatever way you can.

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