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Depend volunteer first responders among the many newest New Yorkers to be shut out of the NYPD radio system as a result of encryption efforts throughout town.
Union leaders and volunteer associations say dropping police radio entry slows response instances and places responders at risk if they’re responding to a violent or harmful incident and are unable to realize preliminary particulars about it that police would in any other case present.
It’s the most recent step within the NYPD’s methodical radio encryption effort, which started in the summertime of 2023 with radios in northern Brooklyn precincts going darkish to the general public. Different instructions in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island have adopted go well with — however in latest weeks, paramedics and volunteer fireplace and ambulance corps serving the Large Apple have additionally misplaced police radio entry.
That growth, advocates for EMS and volunteer first responders say, clashes with a post-9/11 federal mandate that every one first responders talk with one another; an investigation into the World Commerce Heart terrorist assaults on Sept. 11, 2001 revealed that police, fireplace and EMS members couldn’t talk with each other or relay crucial data, one thing which undoubtedly contributed to the excessive lack of life.
The post-9/11 mandate was made all of the extra vital in 2012 after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the metropolitan space; rising ocean waters endangered many cops and first responders or turned stranded of their inundated autos in waterfront areas.
The NYPD issued a memorandum of understanding to the FDNY, permitting them to offer encrypted radios to EMS crews and people of personal hospital ambulances. It was not revealed when this was issued or when the communications settlement could be glad. A FOIL has been filed to acquire the memorandum. It is usually unclear whether or not volunteer corporations could be included.
Within the meantime, all emergency medical companies are at the hours of darkness from police communications.
NYPD ‘needs to come up with a solution’
EMS Paramedics standby on the scene of a a number of alarm fireplace at 2015 Cropsey Ave. (Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell)
Union leaders representing greater than 4,000 EMS staff in New York Metropolis blasted town final week for failing to offer communications with police since NYPD encryption began in July 2023. Presently, all of Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Bronx are encrypted, that means solely these with particular codes and radios can take heed to these precincts. Citywide frequencies are at present nonetheless open, although radio specialists say particular operations frequency and freeway, two of a very powerful radio frequencies, could also be passed by the tip of the month.
“In any emergency, police officers need to have seamless communication with all of the personnel on the scene, including Fire and EMS,” mentioned Police Beneveolent Affiliation President Patrick Henry. “The NYPD needs to come up with a solution that gives our fellow first responders the access that they need to these radio frequencies.”
James Lengthy, deputy commissioner of public data on the FDNY, mentioned, “This concern was brought to the [Commissioner Robert Tucker’s] attention soon after being sworn in, and he took swift action to obtain the necessary funds to retrofit FDNY radios and ensure compatibility moving forward. The safety of our members, and all New Yorkers, will always be our number one priority.”
FDNY official says the upgrades on radios/expertise are being labored on and finalized. It will have an effect on greater than 3,000 radios, and there’s no time-frame concerning how lengthy it’ll take to finish.
“We want to get it done correctly and not be rushed,” the assertion mentioned.
‘Everyone responds blind’
A whole bunch of volunteer ambulance crews in New York Metropolis that reply to a myriad of car crashes, pedestrian accidents and injured cops. It was the Bedford Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance (BSVA), as an illustration, that was first on the scene in when Police Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos had been shot of their patrol automobile by a lone gunman on Dec. 20, 2014.
Josiah Williams, an EMT with each EMS and BSVA, mentioned it’s crucial for first responders to speak with police and know what they’re responding to. BSVA has all the time labored intently with the NYPD Brooklyn North command, however communications have been gone because the space’s police radios had been encrypted in July 2023.
“We need exact locations of where people are shot or stabbed, and we need to know if it is safe to respond,” Williams mentioned. “A couple of weeks ago, a Crown Heights kid was stabbed in a park, and it came to us as at a baseball field, but then we had to start looking for cops screaming. It turned out they were on a basketball court. With a critical patient, time is everything.”
Williams mentioned the security of EMS and volunteers is compromised with out figuring out what is going on.
“Not too long ago, a crew was in danger in Flatbush. I was sitting three miles away, and we started going, but the ambulance crew was not asking for more ambulances, but instead needed more cops, and the dispatcher was sure of the process. When the cops got there they called a 1085 (police need assistance) and help was there in two minutes. There was a big delay when EMS put it over the radio instead of us just telling them on the radio – this is bad for everyone.”
The favored Bay Ridge Volunteer Ambulance Corps (BRAVO) in Brooklyn has all the time labored intently with the 68th, 62nd, and 72nd Precincts in Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge, and components of Sundown Park. Nonetheless, they now discover themselves in communication purgatory.
Tony Napoli, president BRAVO, mentioned a memorandum of understanding with the NYPD and volunteer companies is “stalled” regardless of Brooklyn South precincts having been encrypted for greater than a 12 months. Because of the delay, “the entire ambulance fleet is dead in the water.”
“We have no knowledge of what is going on in the community other than hearing sirens, nothing to go on, and it’s not just us. NYU and the hospitals, FDNY EMS — everyone responds blind,” Napoli mentioned. “If we get a call for an incident, but they don’t tell us that there is a knife fight or a shooting – we roll into a motor vehicle accident, and there is an altercation – we get no advance knowledge. It can be a violent, emotionally disturbed person.”
He harassed that not having radio communications with police delays response that may save lives.
“If EMS and volunteers were on radio and an officer needs assistance, this would save valuable minutes and seconds,” Napoli mentioned. “I do not disagree with encryption – I know they are trying to get rid of those who shouldn’t have it, but I can’t believe they rolled this out without including those who need it.”
A police officer talks on radio in Brooklyn on January 2, 2025. (Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell)
Wealthy Bogart, vice chairman of Volunteer Firemen’s Affiliation of NYC mentioned EMS and volunteers had communications, however “this flies in the face of interoperability after Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy and the World Trade Center attack.”
“Over the years, we had access to radios, so we thought we should’ve been included in the conversation,” Bogart mentioned. “When cops were calling for an ambulance, we could respond quicker and save vital minutes. Sometimes, there is an unknown condition, so while going in, we would be listening to the patrol car on the scene and know if there is a violent assault. We’d hang out a few minutes – it kept us on the safer side. I just can’t see justification for this causing further delays and causing a risk for nothing.”
Joe Raneri, deputy chief of the Edgewater Volunteer Fireplace Division within the Bronx, mentioned they’re working with metropolis companies to search out “a level of access.”
He mentioned that whereas they’re searching for to keep up interoperability with the NYPD and FDNY, he additionally understands the NYPD’s want to keep up safety.
“It’s a balance. The more accessible, the less secure it becomes,” he mentioned. “There has to be a determination of the risk of providing access versus the risks you create by removing access. We are trying to work with them to find that balance.”
Different ambulance companies, together with the most important within the metropolis, Hatzalah, have additionally misplaced communications in Brooklyn. They’ve remained silent, as most of their calls come from residents who guard their privateness. In addition they have a coverage of not discussing ambulance coverage with the press. On 9/11, quite a few Hatzalah ambulances and autos had been misplaced after the collapse of the Twin Towers.
Members of the media have additionally been complaining concerning the lack of entry to police communications. An amalgam of press organizations is working in assist of laws within the state legislature that would supply entry to the press.
Ambulances line up outdoors Maimonides Medical Heart. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
