Dear Nozzlehead: I read your article in the June 2007 issue of FireRescue magazine (“Give What They Pay For ” p. 20) and as a police officer and a volunteer firefighter/paramedic I empathize with the plight of the volunteer fire department mentioned in your article but take exception to some of your misconceptions regarding the police.
I’m not sure how the police department in your jurisdiction is equipped but at my department we’re not driving around in shiny new cars; new cars aren’t issued until they reach 100 000 miles or die-whichever comes first. The city issues our firefighters all their equipment uniforms turnout gear self-rescue rope and harness and they are paid more than the police. The police on the other hand have to purchase all our equipment with our own funds; that includes our gun gun belt uniforms replacement bulletproof vest (the vest we’re issued is no longer National Institute of Justice-certified after 5 years and not replaced by the job) and even the 15-cent pin that holds our badges to our shirts.
Over the course of a career all these expenses add up to the tune of several thousand dollars out of the pockets of poorly paid officers. And while we’re not legally allowed to hold fundraisers to help pay for our equipment it’s probably not a bad idea. We do hold fundraising dinners parties and collections usually to assist a sick or injured officer or the family of an officer killed in the line of duty whom the city won’t cover. Further we are not affiliated with the bogus phone solicitations made falsely on behalf of many fire police and other service agencies as your article implies.
The police EMS personnel and most other civil servants are just as much “givers” as firefighters because very few enter this line of work for the money. Also there are volunteer police officers in many jurisdictions; they are known as auxiliaries or reserve deputies two of whom made the ultimate sacrifice in New York City when they faced an armed killer a couple of months ago.
Many of your articles are right on target but this time your comparison couldn’t be more wrong. The grass is no greener on the police side of the fence as your article would have everyone believe. -Annoyed in NY
Dear Annoyed
Whoa I was so afraid you were writing about the fact that I refer to police officers as cops and wanted to know why I do so. I was also afraid you wanted to know why police officers are called cops. Odds are my readers WANT these answers. Fine.
I grew up in an area where the po-lees were known as cops. There’s also a TV show called COPS and big surprise it’s all about cops. So that’s why I call cops cops.
Now the answer to the big bonus question: Where did the term cops come from? I grew up thinking police officers are called cops because of the early NYPD issuance of copper badges. But in speaking to some cops it seems the source of this word is much earlier in our history. The word cop is an old Anglo-Saxon verb for “to catch” or “to grab” and dates back at least to the 1100s. Some bored folks with way too much free time on their hands say the word comes from the Dutch word kapen which has a similar meaning because a bunch of Dutch folks came to New York in the early days of our country’s history.
Ever watch those old movies (or Warner Brothers’ cartoons) where the bad guy says “OK copper you’ll never get me m’yeah m’yeah”-sorta like O.J. said? That term copper was actually used in England as a not-so-nice term for a police officer. It eventually became illegal in England to use this word because it was so derogatory. Hmm. Fortunately we did that whole tea party thing and can now call police officers cops … and we all lived happily ever after.
And now on to your letter.
I’m sorry. Bet you thought I was done. Nah. I do have a few responses. First of all I’m not totally sorry-just a little bit. Why? Because I’m usually right and not just about this issue. I’m usually right about almost everything-all the time. But let’s stick to your letter.
Fact: Most firefighters in the United States are volunteer or part time and 99 percent of armed police officers are the primary responders and are full-time career paid. So in almost every case a volunteer fire department has career police officers operating within their jurisdiction. And in almost every case if the local police department were shut down the county sheriff or the state police would be required by law to provide service. If a fire department was shut down the community would wait for the Far-off-ville Volunteer Fire Department to arrive.
Additionally in almost all cases where volunteer non-tax-supported fire departments exist (and I’m not talking about some local government that provides a volunteer fire department a donation of a few grand each year) and fire departments must hold fundraising events the police do have more in proportion because the cops don’t have to raise their own money to do the job. That’s the issue I was trying to describe.
Although this column is written with a bit of cynicism by design (and birth) we have a long history of solid respect for good cops unless they for example refuse to safely block highways when we’re operating in the danger zone. And we also understand that if most police officers could pass the fire department exam they would have been firefighters. Relax! I’m kidding. We know that most police officers don’t want to be firefighters because it requires teamwork. RELAX! I said I’m kidding. All that coffee can make cops edgy. Calm down. Have a donut. RELAX! I AM STILL KIDDING!
But on a serious note we are (for the most part) in this together and mutual respect is critical to our success. And all cops including NYPD Auxiliary Officers Eugene Marshalik 19 and Nicolas Pekearo 28 who were gunned down last March risk their lives every day. And in most communities the relations between police and fire are excellent. When it isn’t the leaders have a responsibility to fix the problem. But in most places life is good between the rubber guns and the rubber hoses.
We need to keep a sense of humor because most of us have a similar sense of humor. For example in our jurisdiction a lady was smoking a cigarette while filling her tank at a gas station even though all the signs say not to do this. The fumes from the gas tank ignited severely burning her hands and lighting up her arm too. Instead of rolling on the ground to put out the fire the woman panicked. She took off running down the street. One of our local cops was at the intersection where it happened and tried to stop her to extinguish her arm but she just kept running and screaming. All the officer could think to do was to shoot her. This action took everyone including me by surprise. The officer then ran over to her and we put the fire-and her-out. Our fire-medics then treated her.
When the cop was questioned about his course of action to stop her the officer said “My only thought was to stop her. After all she was waving a firearm.”
OK I am sorry about that joke.
In closing while almost every cop EMT and firefighter I know must dip into their own pockets to cover the cost of many items this still doesn’t make it right. And when a community does have a fairly funded police or EMS agency and the fire department still has to raise money to do a job they don’t get paid for I think we can all agree that is criminal.
