Talk:Department of Public Safety

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	Department of Public Safety is within the scope of the Law Enforcement WikiProject. Please Join, Create, and Assess. Remember, the project aims for no vandalism and no conflict, if an article needs attention regarding vandalism or breaches of wikiquette, please add it to the article watch list.
Start	This article has been rated as start-Class on the quality scale.

[edit] Which department?

Is this supposed to be a specific government agency, or just a typical government department that might go by the name 'Department of Public Safety', or other name? Peter Grey 06:10, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Both--209.213.220.227 19:33, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Canadian context

The Canadian and US situations probably don't belong in the same article. In Canada, Emergency Measures agencies do not deal with regular police/fire/ambualance emergency services, they deal with disaster reponse. And there isn't a single agency in Canada that uses the name 'Department of Public Safety'. Peter Grey 23:39, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pittsburgh

I've removed Pittsburgh PA from the "List of cities with Departments of Public Safety with fully cross-trained personnel" list as their public safety department provides various types of support services to separate Police, Fire and EMS agencies.

See the Pittsburgh Public Safety website

Public Safety assists the Bureaus of Police, Fire, Emergency Medical Services, and Building Inspection in the delivery of their services by providing administrative, financial, and technical support for core management functions.

64.253.108.2 17:32, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

I have updated the list of local public safety agencies. As part of my graduate studies at the University of San Francisco, I conducted extensive research on consolidated agencies in the United States and discovered the cities I have added. I have also removed several agencies, such as Lindsay California, which are no longer using the public safety concept.

I also technically disagree with the statement that Bensenville had to give up its public safety department. The facts are clear; Bensenville was attempting to form a public safety agency, which brought about the Illinois law preventing the formation of any further public safety agencies in that state, but never was able to carry out the plan.

Finally, My research reveals that although pubic safety does not receive the attention it did in the 70s and 80s the concept continues to grow. From 1970 to the present, the number of public safety agencies in the United States has grown 270%, representing a yearly growth rate of 3.6%. Simply stated, the number of agencies is growing quietly and incrementally without anyone acutally noticing. 67.174.207.186 17:40, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Well, you're probably right that the number is slowly growing, but there are high-profile fiascos like Daytona Beach, which was probably the largest city to adopt and then get rid of a local DPS. --Coolcaesar 05:05, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I would be interested in more information on why Daytona Beach deconsolidated, so if you know of a source, please post the information. It is extremely difficult to consolidate large traditional departments. The labor unions, primarily fire unions, will not cooperate. Bensenville, Illinois was a prime example of typical fire union resistance. Even though Bensenville is a small town, the local and state chapters of the Illinois AFFI spearheaded the Illinois anti-public safety law.

Fire unions argue that public safety is diminished by consolidation; however, on a national basis, consolidated agencies have lower rates of fire loss, equal or better ISO ratings, and have lower rates in all Uniform Crime Report categories, with a fractional exception in total theft losses, in comparison to separate police and fire departments. Statistically speaking, cities that utilize the public safety concept are certainly as safe as cities that use a traditional approach and in most cases safer.OPRockwell 04:06, 23 October 2007 (UTC)