Are the cops our friends? Are we our friends?

In the homeland security world we are all in the race for the big pie, the federal dollars. That's why it's especially disconcerting to see a national LE figure say something like this: “All my community policing grants turned into fire trucks, and homeland security became the monster that ate law enforcement.” Really? Really?

For starters, I don't believe that is true. Predictably, I believe the fire service doesn't get enough (or the right kind of) attention from the feds when it comes to homeland security. I also believe the cops get too much and want more. They want more money and more control, from street cops who want to tell the fire department when they can disregard a scene to the police chiefs who want to tell the fire chief what is and is not a hazmat incident. Federal grants have only accelerated the power grabs, with LE agencies all over the country moving into fields for which they are not qualified, trained, or experienced. From patrol cars with Level B CPC they don't know how to maintain or put on to police department rescue squads competing with fire department rescue squads, there is a disturbing trend of mission creep for them and marginilization for us.

Budgets are zero-sum games where each agency has to make a convincing argument that it deserves as much or more money as the next. When it comes to fire vs. police we start out at a disadvantage. Few people are scared of fire, but everyone is scared of being mugged (broad generalization). Your agency has to develop a strategic communications plan that combines smart leadership with clear illustrations of public worth. There are a lot of reasons the cops beat us at budget time (they bring in ticket revenue, the public is scared of crime, they market themselves better, etc.), but I think one of the biggest is a fire service-wide strategic problem. Namely, fire chiefs aren't as professional as police chiefs, as a group. We don't have dozens of undergraduate and graduate degree programs at legitimate universities and we don't have numerous truly peer-reviewed journals producing quality research. The fire service needs to stop thinking of itself as a great alternative to college for people "who just don't like school." A fire chief with a technical certificate from a community college or bachelor's from an internet-only school is at a significant disadvantage next to a police chief with a master's degree in CJ from a brick-and-mortar university.

I realize this is an unpopular and maybe inflammatory opinion. Let me be clear: firemen are smart. We all know that, but firefighters aren't always studious or intellectual. I've heard a lot of firefighters complain about being treated like garbage men. To that I'll ask a question: what do you have on your resume that sets you apart from the garbage men? And a hint: weekend NFA extension schools don't matter.