EMS Access To Cop Frequencies Gets Trial Run

By ARI PAUL

After years of pressure from Emergency Medical Service unions, the Fire Department launched a pilot program Feb. 1 that once again gives EMS ambulance crews access to local Police Department radio frequencies.

PATRICK J. BAHNKEN: 'A good thing.'

The program is for EMS responders in Division 3 in Brooklyn, encompassing neighborhoods including Williamsburg, Carroll Gardens and Bedford-Stuyvesant. It will last for three months, and if successful, will be expanded citywide permanently.

Spurred by Gun Episode

The department removed EMS radio access to local police frequencies in 2000 because it believed it was resulting in slower emergency responses at times. The EMS unions had lobbied to regain access, and redoubled their efforts after two Paramedics were confronted by a gunman on the job in Brooklyn last July.

"For many reasons it is a significant and dramatic improvement in both the safety of our members and the safety of all New Yorkers," said District Council 37 Local 2507 President Patrick J. Bahnken, who represents Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics. "It is never a bad thing when you increase communications capabilities among emergency responders. I have no doubt in my mind that the department will realize that this is a good thing. We are anxious and eager to work with them, and we fully support the implementation of this important feature citywide."

Helps Cops, Too

Thomas Eppinger, who as president of Local 3621 of DC 37 represents EMS officers, had pushed for the NYPD radio access, saying that in addition to helping his members it would also allow police officers to get faster medical responses when they need them.

Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano had agreed to give EMS responders the access a month after the July confrontation in Brooklyn. Mr. Bahnken explained that without the frequencies, when EMS responders were in dangerous situations, they would have to communicate to the EMS dispatcher, who would then contact the police, which produced a slower response than having access to local police frequencies.

Chief FDNY spokesman Francis X. Gribbon said that problems arose with EMS access to local NYPD frequencies because ambulances would go to places where they thought emergencies were taking place, and then when dispatched to go somewhere else, they were farther away than they should have been. Now, he said, the dispatchers use a Global Positioning System that has ameliorated this problem.

City Council Civil Service and Labor Committee Chairman Joseph P. Addabbo had been supportive of the unions' position and welcomed the pilot program.

"This is a fine victory," he said. "You know, really who wins out are the people. There is no reason why our agencies should not or could not be on the same page."