It depends entirely on the city, but many cities have officers who drive vehicles that carry a portable defibrillator with them. A cop with a defib who can be there in 2 or 3 minutes, sure beats two paramedics in a fully equipped MICU who get to the patient in 8 minutes on a full blown cardiac arrest (most people go into ventricular fibrillation when their heart "stops", at least for a little while - and the defib is the ONLY effective treatment for that particular heart arrythmia). Cops generally know CPR as well. They also serve as extra hands, if the FD or the MICU crew needs them. And, finally, sometimes on very emotional calls, the police are needed to keep the family and bystanders in check while the medics work on a patient.SewTexas wrote:why would police be sent to a heart attack???? that's a waste of money and time, that's completely ridiculous, oh, I forgot, I'm talking about bureaucracy. When we called for my FIL's stroke, EMTs and an ambulance came, that's what was needed that's what came, police weren't needed they didn't come.
As a paramedic, I always liked having the cops show up on my 9-1-1 calls... if I didn't need them, I'd wave 'em off (if they weren't already out and on scene) or tell 'em "thanks, I think we got it" and if they wanted to stay and watch (and some of them would, gaining knowledge about what we do and how we did it), that would be cool, too!
Never heard anyone tell us we (the medical folks) were welcome while asking the cops not to enter.