ASSOCIATE Magazine FBINAA Q1-2025

Continued from "From Conflict to Care", on page 14

CASE STUDIES: LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES LEADING THE WAY WITH PATROL EMS • Monmouth County NJ Sheriff's Office (suburban): A recent example of law enforcement stepping up to fill a need in their community is the Monmouth County NJ Sheriff's Office who, in 2023, stood up MedStar, a licensed BLS transport agency within the Sheriff’s Office. MedStar runs 24/7 County wide BLS ambulances that partner with the municipal volunteer rescue squads throughout the County. MedStar has served as a partnership that has furthered community relations and trust in addition to rebranding the Sheriff’s office as more than an enforcement agency. The Sheriff’s Department also operates a tactical response ambulance to support special operations including SWAT. The Sheriff’s plans to expand its EMS role to serve the needs of Monmouth County as the need grows. • Illinois State Police (Rural, suburban and urban): The Illinois State Police has maintained an agency-wide high standard of training, ensuring that all sworn members of the agency are certified as Emergency Medical Responders (EMR), Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), or paramedics. The Illinois State Police is a state licensed non-transport EMS system charged with supervising and training all members of the agency. Every ISP response vehicle is equipped as a non-transport basic life support vehicle. The ISP Special Operations Command has, for over a decade, incorporated advanced scope ALS tactical medical support within the SWAT teams. Recently the operational medicine program was expanded to include medical support teams (MSTs) within its crowd control teams along with a deployable ALS component that includes physicians, paramedics and EMTs. By training State Troopers as both police officers and EMS professionals the payoff has been multifold, especially in the rural communities. Troopers bring both their training and equipment home with them every night and serve as 24/7 resources. The Illinois State Police performs approximately fifty life saving interventions every month. These rescues come in the form of life saving hemorrhage control, Narcan administration, diabetic rescue as well as lives saved by LEO administered AEDs. The EMS program has further served the agency by serving as a recruitment tool and has added multiple opportunities for community engagement through teaching courses such as CPR /AED, Stop the Bleed, and Emergency Medical Responder. The State Police regularly offers medical training at schools, community centers, churches and at public gatherings such as the State Fair. By having uniformed police officers teaching life saving skills to students and to the general community, they are softening their image and actively modifying how the public perceives them. • Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (Rural, suburban and urban) : The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Special Enforcement Bureau was started in 1958. The Emergency Services Detail serves as the agency’s tactical paramedics and rescue/ recovery specialists. Each member is a licensed paramedic and a member of the special weapons team. Each is trained in: SWAT/ tactical operations, rural/ mountain rescue, ocean /swift water rescue, helicopter- based rescue and public safety diving. SEB, for decades, has incorporated EMS into their areas of operation. The life saving operations of the LA County Sheriff, has had the advantage of regularly being portrayed in TV and film. The TV shows 240

FBINAA.ORG | Q1 2025

ALS and BLS-equipped engines or trucks that can begin medical care prior to the arrival of dedicated EMS personnel. THE ROLE OF VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENTS Adding fuel to the fire (no pun intended), a majority of counties and municipalities in the U.S. are served by volunteer fire departments and rescue squads. Many such communities have been forced to address volunteer shortages. This is especially impactful in underserved and underfunded areas. It also affects many suburban and some urban areas. Noticing this gap, some progressive and innovative police departments have stepped up with creative solutions, using their constant presence on the street to the advantage of their populations. Agencies have begun to add EMT and EMR training for their patrol officers and have marked and equipped police vehicles for the EMS mission in addition to their law enforcement mission. SPECIAL OPERATIONS MEDICINE AND POLICE EMS Some law enforcement agencies have stood up specialized EMS response vehicles and licensed transport ambulances. Of special note, some state agencies have had patrol EMS programs for years. Other agencies have had integrated EMS within the special operations areas for decades. Tactical EMS, which embeds medics within SWAT teams, has become the preferred standard for tactical operations and has paid off multifold in survival benefits for both civilians and law enforcement. Operational medicine continues to grow and take hold with incorporation into special events such as the recent Republican and Democratic National Conventions and other large scale law enforcement operations as well as search and rescue operations to austere environments such as storm responses. Most notably this was seen with Hurricane Katrina and recently with Hurricane Helene. Whether it’s the incorporation of EMR, EMTs, paramedics, nurses or physicians, the addition of pre-hospital medical care into law enforcement operations has proven its value and will continue to expand.

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