EMS Personnel and Electronic Control Devices

Frank Borelli Editor-in-Chief Officer.com Recently Officer.com and Firehouse.com ran a joint poll on our homepages.  The poll question revolved around the need for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responders to have TASERs or not.  Most public safety personnel are aware that often the EMS folks get to the scenes of violent crimes before the police do.  Hopefully, in bad neighborhoods, they wait for the police escort.  It doesn't always work that way.  So, the question arose: should they have TASERs as defense tools? The answers actually surprised me a little bit.  Listed below is the question and the answer options with each answer followed by the percentage of votes.  The percentages are shown as "Officer.com %/Firehouse.com %." The question: Should EMS members be issued TASERs? Yes: the law enforcement TASER with training for deployment and treatment. 27% / 16% Yes: the civilian TASER with training for deployment and treatment. 8% / 19% Yes: either one with deployment training. 13% / 4% Yes: in their vehicle - not on their person. 7% / 7% No: EMS responders don't need TASERs. 45% / 50% Now, here are a few observations about those answers:

• If we had used the term "Electronic Control Devices" (ECDs) instead of "TASER", I can't help but wonder if it would have made a difference.  We certainly didn't mean to focus on the manufacturer of the tool - as there are other companies who make ECDs.  We meant to focus on the tool and I can't help but wonder if the negative general media exposure for TASER had an impact on the answers.
• Based on the 27% response on Officer.com for the first option, an average of one in every four police officers feels that EMS responders should have the Law Enforcement standard ECD provided it's accompanied with proper training for deployment and treatment.  To me this is neat.  More police feel more ambulance personnel SHOULD HAVE ECDs.  Do you think the EMS folks ever would have thought they had that much support from the police side?
• 7% of each community felt that ECDs would be good to have but only in the vehicle; not on the person.  I don't get that at all.  The point of having the self-defense tool is to be able to defend yourself from an immediate and spontaneous attack.  What good does the ECD do when it's in the ambulance and you're inside an apartment rendering aid when attacked?
• In total, 55% of the LE community feels EMS personnel should have such tools.  Compare that to 50% of the EMS folks who responded on Firehouse.com.  Again I have to wonder if the EMS side doesn't realize the support they enjoy from the LE side?

Look folks... we're all on the same side.  There may be differing levels of respect; or perceived differences in performance standards or something.  But here's my bottom line: When I get hurt and need the ambulance to show up to fix me, those are my boys.  They are on my team.  Most of them wear blue too!  This is why I always try to extend professional courtesy to them.  So what if they're volunteers.  To me this only makes their dedication and courage more admirable. Bearing all that in mind, what's your outlook on them having ECDs?   Personally, my vote was for them to have them on their person with proper deployment and treatment training.  As an instructor for one brand of ECDs I'd be happy to provide such training to them. Your thoughts?