As a paddler and a police officer I believe I can speak on the abilities of 911 systems. Modern computer aided dispatch systems have the ability to save non-emergency call information for later use. IE a paddling class occurring two days from now at a given location and time. This can prove very helpful when some other passerby calls in stating he sees a kayak in "trouble"; however it is a general rule among public safety departments (police and fire) that it is better to err on the side of caution. This is why sometimes we respond anyway. The city I work for; Gary, Indiana, is located on Lake Michigan and we see these sort of situations all summer. Please give the guys a break when they come out to help and they are not needed; for most are underpaid, overworked and have no clue about paddling. Case in point is myself. I regularly go out on Lake Michigan after work for a little stress relief paddling. More than once I have returned to shore to find a couple of our marine rescue unit standing there watching for me to "disappear". And they know who I am! More than once I have gone out in the lake when all the jet skiers and the rescue team says its too rough; only to find it totally controllable. So have a little patience and give the police or fire department a call beforehand if your going to do training. Sergeant W. Alan Ross Gary Police Dept. - Crime Analysis Unit 531 Washington Street Gary, Indiana 46402 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Thu, 24 Aug 2000, W. Alan Ross wrote: > As a paddler and a police officer I believe I can speak on the abilities of > 911 systems. Modern computer aided dispatch systems have the ability to save > non-emergency call information for later use. IE a paddling class occurring > two days from now at a given location and time. This can prove very helpful > when some other passerby calls in stating he sees a kayak in "trouble"; > however it is a general rule among public safety departments (police and > fire) that it is better to err on the side of caution. This is why sometimes > we respond anyway. As they should, I think. Just because the Brooklyn Wave Bonkers are having a rescue clinic in the East River doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't a kayaker in trouble in the East River, maybe around the next point. Steve Cramer *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
W. Alan Ross wrote: > > As a paddler and a police officer I believe I can speak on the abilities of > 911 systems. Modern computer aided dispatch systems have the ability to save > non-emergency call information for later use. > controllable. So have a little patience and give the police or fire > department a call beforehand if your going to do training. > > Sergeant W. Alan Ross > Gary Police Dept. - Crime Analysis Unit > 531 Washington Street > Gary, Indiana 46402 > Thanks for the tip. I will pass it on to others in this area. ralph -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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