Cops are more interested in Safty than Money!!!

[Starloans]

SLOW DOWN!!! :champagne:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/03/21/hit-brakes-state-governments-raise-traffic-fees/?test=latestnews

 

[RiverDave]

Watching our govt do what it's doing makes me want to puke.

RD

 

[Guest]

Watching our govt do what it's doing makes me want to puke.

RD

 

[Starloans]

It's not really the cops fault but they are the bearer of bad news. So I wasn't getting down on cops.....unless you give me a chicken shit ticket!!!:bash:

 

[Tremor Therapy]

This is the type of thing that chaps my ass! I won't vote for any of the a'holes that vote this kind of crap into law, and it kills me when I hear some blood sucking idiot next to me talk about how they voted for the same spend, spend, spend politicians year after year. GRRRR! :grumble:

 

[Tom Brown]

Watching our govt do what it's doing makes me want to puke.

Governments crave money the way you crave Chesterfield cigarettes. Sure, they want to cut back, be more efficient, and have a more successful future... they really do... but every day they find themselves instituting additional taxes and levies to pay for the budgetary shortcomings left by non-essential projects and gross inefficiencies. Their financial lungs are irreparably blackened by years of unabated craving.

 

[Nord]

I don't think taxpayers should have to pay for traffic light cameras.
I don't think taxpayers should have to pay for govt vehicles that have unnecessary upgrades (nice shiny rims, diamond stainless etc).
Fire trucks blow me away with all of the crap that is on them that doesn't need to be as extravigant as it is.

Now the rebuttle.......... The vehicles need these things to be up to "their" standards/code. The same standards that are set by who?......... The head guys of the Union who are firemen/ ex-firemen.

 

[Guest]

 

[Tom Brown]

Now the rebuttle.......... The vehicles need these things to be up to "their" standards/code. The same standards that are set by who?......... The head guys of the Union who are firemen/ ex-firemen.

It is extremely unlikely union members set equipment standards. That is invariably done by the top ranking officials in an organization who are unlikely to be unionized.

 

[Ryphraph]

Some cities are seeing increases in serious accidents where the cameras have been installed as well as high costs to maintain the camera systems once motorists change driving habbits and the tickets slow down.

Ryph

 

[Gramps]

Fire trucks blow me away with all of the crap that is on them that doesn't need to be as extravigant as it is.

and what might these items be???????

 

[Tom Brown]

and what might these items be???????

I think he's referring to the Cutting Edge Marine battery boxes so many emergency vehicles were running for a while.

 

[ROC]

I don't think taxpayers should have to pay for traffic light cameras.
I don't think taxpayers should have to pay for govt vehicles that have unnecessary upgrades (nice shiny rims, diamond stainless etc).
Fire trucks blow me away with all of the crap that is on them that doesn't need to be as extravigant as it is.

Now the rebuttle.......... The vehicles need these things to be up to "their" standards/code. The same standards that are set by who?......... The head guys of the Union who are firemen/ ex-firemen.

Not arguing with ya, but, what types of things do you mean?

 

[TBI]

Cop are more interested in doughnuts than either of those

 

[Nord]

It is extremely unlikely union members set equipment standards. That is invariably done by the top ranking officials in an organization who are unlikely to be unionized.

This is how the fire dept is set up. I learned this after talking to the head of the union for the firefighters

As for the Police dept. I don't have the same hard evidence however I can assure you the decisions are made/influenced by these individuals.

When I told that to my ex-roomates Father (Canadian) he laughed and said that isn't how its done in Canada.

 

[Guest]

I think he's referring to the Cutting Edge Marine battery boxes so many emergency vehicles were running for a while.

How are they handling the warranty issues on those?...

 

[Nord]

Not arguing with ya, but, what types of things do you mean?

and what might these items be???????

There is no reason why (some not all) these vehicles should have the Alcoa (sp?) brand rims, the cost of paint alone is very high from what I understand, polished chrome/stainless everything down to the bezels, etc. The weight/safety standards can be met without these items. I understand some items on the truck make perfect sense but not all. I am told a firetruck costs between 500K to 1million Each to build!!

It amazes me that the police dept still uses a third party company that charges top dollar to wash their vehicles!! My friend owns the company that does this and you can imagine the rounds we've had:blah:

 

[RiverDave]

There is no reason why (some not all) these vehicles should have the Alcoa (sp?) brand rims, the cost of paint alone is very high from what I understand, polished chrome/stainless everything down to the bezels, etc. The weight/safety standards can be met without these items. I understand some items on the truck make perfect sense but not all. I am told a firetruck costs between 500K to 1million Each to build!!

It amazes me that the police dept still uses a third party company that charges top dollar to wash their vehicles!! My friend owns the company that does this and you can imagine the rounds we've had:blah:

hey man this isn't a 3rd world country here.. Our fire trucks have to look bad ass.. Pride in machinery = pride in job = better job.

I agree with you about useless spending, but there is "billions" to be had at every corner.. Cutting the Alcoas off a fire truck might save you 100K across the state.. LOL

RD

 

[TBI]

I'd rather have my shit burn to the ground than see a firetruck without Alcoas :thumbsup

 

[BarryMac]

Wanna save a fucking dime? Quit paying for the Illegals to use our Emergency Rooms as there fucking primary care.

 

[TBI]

Wanna save a fucking dime? Quit paying for the Illegals to use our Emergency Rooms as there fucking primary care.

No more calls folks, we have a winner!

 

[Nord]

hey man this isn't a 3rd world country here.. Our fire trucks have to look bad ass.. Pride in machinery = pride in job = better job.

I agree with you about useless spending, but there is "billions" to be had at every corner.. Cutting the Alcoas off a fire truck might save you 100K across the state.. LOL

RD

More than that AND that is in just one area of the vehicle

I'd rather have my shit burn to the ground than see a firetruck without Alcoas :thumbsup

Alcoas have nothing to do with emergency response time, nor do they have ANYTHING to do with saving cats from trees, heart attacks, or.......... oh yeah, putting out fires

 

[TBI]

Alcoas have nothing to do with emergency response time, nor do they have ANYTHING to do with saving cats from trees, heart attacks, or.......... oh yeah, putting out fires

Yeah, but they look badass!

Edit: Actually aluminum wheels = less rotating mass, less rotating mass = better wheel speed ....just sayin

 

[Nord]

Wanna save a fucking dime? Quit paying for the Illegals to use our Emergency Rooms as there fucking primary care.

Or try using a contractor that has legal US Americans that pay their taxes as employees:thumbsup

Problem is, those guys are usually a higher bid.....:skull

 

[RiverDave]

Nord if I had it my way that fuckin fire truck would cost 2 million dollars.. And the Alcoas (south American made) would be made right here in ole California. Along with every other piece of hardware in that truck.

Like i said, There's billions everywhere to clip from the budget.. How about the Buddhist Welfare center for get this.. Infants, that my f'n retarded cigarette tax paid for. they built it because they "had to" spend the money or lose it.

I'm with bildgie on this one.. Nothing wrong with spending some coin on quality. so long as it is quality.

RD

 

[TBI]

Nord if I had it my way that fuckin fire truck would cost 2 million dollars.. And the Alcoas (south American made) would be made right here in ole California. Along with every other piece of hardware in that truck.

RD

RD for President :champagne:

 

[8dayz]

:First off, Fire Trucks & Fire Engines are different. The cost of a Fire Truck is a lot more than the Fire Engine. They have different roles in life. The life expectancy of a "rig" is 20 - 25 years. I have sat on apparatus committees before, believe me we don't sit down and try to spend the most $ we can. public servants are tax payers also remember, lol. The Alcoa's don't change the price that much and really help the vehicle look good a lot longer than the painted wheels. Diamond plate is a necessary thing, what else should be used? It has been used for generations, if there was something better you would see it. nothing we spec has a bling factor, like when we all spend $ on our boats. All of it is mission based, type of community, topography, special needs of community or agency etc...Oh & no union person has any say in what the dept builds. Just for the record I roll in a Pierce

 

[Deleted Account]

LOL...

I believe Teague was one of the guys specc'ing equipment for the FD. It's all his fault, then. Hahaha. We deploy comm's equipment to all the fire camps in SoCal. Those guys should have the best equipment available, period.:thumbsup

 

[Nord]

Nord if I had it my way that fuckin fire truck would cost 2 million dollars.. And the Alcoas (south American made) would be made right here in ole California. Along with every other piece of hardware in that truck.

Like i said, There's billions everywhere to clip from the budget.. How about the Buddhist Welfare center for get this.. Infants, that my f'n retarded cigarette tax paid for. they built it because they "had to" spend the money or lose it.

I'm with bildgie on this one.. Nothing wrong with spending some coin on quality. so long as it is quality.

RD

With all due respect Dave.................. I know you have more responsibility now then you had before. Between the taxes you pay for a house, river house, auto, and boat out of YOUR pocket, then add the increased taxes from the state/county/country for categories these moneys are funneled to, I think your oppinion might change in the future and wonder why the hell these are "necesseties" that come out of your money.

 

[RiverDave]

With all due respect Dave.................. I know you have more responsibility now then you had before. Between the taxes you pay for a house, river house, auto, and boat out of YOUR pocket, then add the increased taxes from the state/county/country for categories these moneys are funneled to, I think your oppinion might change in the future and wonder why the hell these are "necesseties" that come out of your money.

Nord, let all of that shit burn to the ground if it doesn't roll up on Alcoas.. How's that.

RD

 

[TBI]

With all due respect Dave.................. I know you have more responsibility now then you had before. Between the taxes you pay for a house, river house, auto, and boat out of YOUR pocket, then add the increased taxes from the state/county/country for categories these moneys are funneled to, I think your oppinion might change in the future and wonder why the hell these are "necesseties" that come out of your money.

With all due respect, don't you have some boots to sell, or yard work or some shit?

 

[Nord]

:First off, Fire Trucks & Fire Engines are different. The cost of a Fire Truck is a lot more than the Fire Engine. They have different roles in life. The life expectancy of a "rig" is 20 - 25 years. I have sat on apparatus committees before, believe me we don't sit down and try to spend the most $ we can. public servants are tax payers also remember, lol. The Alcoa's don't change the price that much and really help the vehicle look good a lot longer than the painted wheels. Diamond plate is a necessary thing, what else should be used? It has been used for generations, if there was something better you would see it. nothing we spec has a bling factor, like when we all spend $ on our boats. All of it is mission based, type of community, topography, special needs of community or agency etc...Oh & no union person has any say in what the dept builds. Just for the record I roll in a Pierce

Anything that is answered in the term "not that much more" does not sit well. As for adding money to our boats? Apples to oranges. I am not using someone else's money to wax my boat. There is no reason an emergency vehicle should "look" great or bad ass for that matter.

 

[Nord]

With all due respect, don't you have some boots to sell, or yard work or some shit?

lol:moon:

 

[Nord]

Nord, let all of that shit burn to the ground if it doesn't roll up on Alcoas.. How's that.

RD

LMFAO. I see every penny that comes in and every penny that goes out. I am qualified

 

[RiverDave]

LMFAO. I see every penny that comes in and every penny that goes out. I am qualified

To the ground Nord.. Nothing but embers.

RD

 

[TBI]

Anything that is answered in the term "not that much more" does not sit well. As for adding money to our boats? Apples to oranges. I am not using someone else's money to wax my boat. There is no reason an emergency vehicle should "look" great or bad ass for that matter.

In the environment fire trucks are used, waxing seems like a pretty important part of maintenance. You don't want to see "your hard earned tax money" all rusty and shit do you?


just sayin

 

[TBI]

To the ground Nord.. Nothing but embers.

RD

 

[RiverDave]

I think we oughta light Nord's shit on fire.. Then he'll be saying those Alcoas look pretty good coming down the street.

RD

 

[TBI]

I think we oughta light Nord's shit on fire.. Then he'll be saying those Alcoas look pretty good coming down the street.

RD

Oh fuck! Whiskey all over my keyboard

 

[Nord]

In the environment fire trucks are used, waxing seems like a pretty important part of maintenance. You don't want to see "your hard earned tax money" all rusty and shit do you?


just sayin

As long as the wax is applied by a fireman I'm cool with it

 

[Tom Brown]

I'd rather have my shit burn to the ground than see a firetruck without Alcoas :thumbsup

 

[Wheeler]

Alcoas have nothing to do with emergency response time, nor do they have ANYTHING to do with saving cats from trees, heart attacks, or.......... oh yeah, putting out fires

Alcoa's are virtually maintenance free which give the firemen more time to concentrate on more important duties. :thumbsup

 

[maxwedge]

I got a ticket around Christmas time at kind of a famous speed trap about 40 miles from where I live. Not wanting the ticket on my record, and strongly feeling that the whole idea of having a 65MPH speed limit with modern vehicles on a dry, flat, straight, 4 lane highway is total bullshit, I called the court house and asked if I could get traffic school. "Lady says "there's no traffic school in this particular county, but you can request court supervision for "a slightly increased fine". So I say, "Sounds okay, what do I have to do?" She says, "show up at the courthouse, room whatever on March 17." So I do that.

So, I stood in this small town courthouse last Wednesday with about 200 other people. From talking to them in the hallway, seemingly all of them got ticketed by State Police on the same stretch of interstate highway, and they had also called in to request court supervision and were told to show up here, with little other info.

Suprise! When my turn came talking to the States Attorney, he offered that, at this point, I could either plead guilty and pay an increased fine plus court costs of $250 in exchange for 6 months court supervision, or go to jury trial and be subjected to the maximum fine for speeding (15-20MPH over the limit) of $1000 plus $2500 costs. He also added under his breath that "by the way, it's very rare that somebody wins a jury trial traffic court case in this county without a really great lawyer." So I asked, "Can't I just pay the original $75 fine and plead guilty." "No sir, you've already incurred court costs by coming here." Jesus! I guess talking to some random lady on the phone for 30 seconds is worth about $175 these days. Like every other person present, I took the plea and Court supervision deal instead of the potential $3500.

It was a real eye opening experience though. During the hour or so I was sitting there, I watched the judge dole out about $75K in court costs and fines to various speeders. Never once during the hour did the judge or anyone else ever mention any dangers of speeding or even suggest that speeding was particularly wrong in any way. He just explained to each person in turn that they now owed various sums of money to the court, and most importantly, how soon could they pay it? Clearly a collection and accounting process, not a crime and punishment process. The Judge seemed far more responsible for confirming how much money would be collected from each victim and when, then for punishing anybody for a crime of any sort. Three speeding tickets in a year is supposed to be automatic suspension of lic.in this state, but I noticed the people on their third, fourth, fith and sixth tickets were all still given court supervision too, in exchange for substantially increased fines.

Even the guy caught speeding while driving on suspended Lic. for DUI and having suspended registration with no insurance, just got 1 year court Supervision and "How soon can you pay your fines of $3500 plus court costs?" Personally, I don't really want that guy driving near me, WTF?

That's when it really hit me...if your in jail, it not only costs the state lots of money, it's much harder to rack up more fines and court costs...and since more than 70% of crimes are committed by repeat offenders, it's just really bad business to put dangerous criminals in jail or even take away drivers licenses from chronic speeders. Those are cash cows! It is clearly in the best interests of Police, Lawyers and Court officials etc. to keep criminals free and still committing crimes. On top of which it's way easier. Likewise it's better to keep repeat speeders out driving so they can get more fine $$. Without repeat offenders, you have 70% less revenue and that makes it really hard to pay the bills.

So as a personal protest of the corrupt system, I have sold all my sports cars and motorcycles and have purchased a new Toyota Prius, which I will now drive everywhere, always traveling at least 5-10MPH slower than the posted speed limit, coming to a full stop at all stop signs and yellow or red traffic lights. Since I believe that this practice is actually far more dangerous than speeding ever was, I expect to be killed in a traffic accident or a road rage incident here shortly, but what the hell, it's for a good cause.

 

[TBI]

I got a ticket around Christmas time at kind of a famous speed trap about 40 miles from where I live. Not wanting the ticket on my record, and strongly feeling that the whole idea of having a 65MPH speed limit with modern vehicles on a dry, flat, straight, 4 lane highway is total bullshit, I called the court house and asked if I could get traffic school. "Lady says "there's no traffic school in this particular county, but you can request court supervision for "a slightly increased fine". So I say, "Sounds okay, what do I have to do?" She says, "show up at the courthouse, room whatever on March 17." So I do that.

So, I stood in this small town courthouse last Wednesday with about 200 other people. From talking to them in the hallway, seemingly all of them got ticketed by State Police on the same stretch of interstate highway, and they had also called in to request court supervision and were told to show up here, with little other info.

Suprise! When my turn came talking to the States Attorney, he offered that, at this point, I could either plead guilty and pay an increased fine plus court costs of $250 in exchange for 6 months court supervision, or go to jury trial and be subjected to the maximum fine for speeding (15-20MPH over the limit) of $1000 plus $2500 costs. He also added under his breath that "by the way, it's very rare that somebody wins a jury trial traffic court case in this county without a really great lawyer." So I asked, "Can't I just pay the original $75 fine and plead guilty." "No sir, you've already incurred court costs by coming here." Jesus! I guess talking to some random lady on the phone for 30 seconds is worth about $175 these days. Like every other person present, I took the plea and Court supervision deal instead of the potential $3500.

It was a real eye opening experience though. During the hour or so I was sitting there, I watched the judge dole out about $75K in court costs and fines to various speeders. Never once during the hour did the judge or anyone else ever mention any dangers of speeding or even suggest that speeding was particularly wrong in any way. He just explained to each person in turn that they now owed various sums of money to the court, and most importantly, how soon could they pay it? Clearly a collection and accounting process, not a crime and punishment process. The Judge seemed far more responsible for confirming how much money would be collected from each victim and when, then for punishing anybody for a crime of any sort. Three speeding tickets in a year is supposed to be automatic suspension of lic.in this state, but I noticed the people on their third, fourth, fith and sixth tickets were all still given court supervision too, in exchange for substantially increased fines.

Even the guy caught speeding while driving on suspended Lic. for DUI and having suspended registration with no insurance, just got 1 year court Supervision and "How soon can you pay your fines of $3500 plus court costs?" Personally, I don't really want that guy driving near me, WTF?

That's when it really hit me...if your in jail, it not only costs the state lots of money, it's much harder to rack up more fines and court costs...and since more than 70% of crimes are committed by repeat offenders, it's just really bad business to put dangerous criminals in jail or even take away drivers licenses from chronic speeders. Those are cash cows! It is clearly in the best interests of Police, Lawyers and Court officials etc. to keep criminals free and still committing crimes. On top of which it's way easier. Likewise it's better to keep repeat speeders out driving so they can get more fine $$. Without repeat offenders, you have 70% less revenue and that makes it really hard to pay the bills.

So as a personal protest of the corrupt system, I have sold all my sports cars and motorcycles and have purchased a new Toyota Prius, which I will now drive everywhere, always traveling at least 5-10MPH slower than the posted speed limit, coming to a full stop at all stop signs and yellow or red traffic lights. Since I believe that this practice is actually far more dangerous than speeding ever was, I expect to be killed in a traffic accident or a road rage incident here shortly, but what the hell, it's for a good cause.

Can you give us the long version? :blah:

 

[ROC]

I'd rather have my shit burn to the ground than see a firetruck without Alcoas :thumbsup

:thumbsup

I was gonna retire early. The Chief came up to me and said "You really want to retire now? You know, we're getting Alcoas on your rig"

I stayed another 8 years.

 

[Nord]

:thumbsup

I was gonna retire early. The Chief came up to me and said "You really want to retire now? You know, we're getting Alcoas on your rig"

I stayed another 8 years.

Don't even start on the salary of a fireman:skull
Ridiculous.

 

[ROC]

Anything that is answered in the term "not that much more" does not sit well. As for adding money to our boats? Apples to oranges. I am not using someone else's money to wax my boat. There is no reason an emergency vehicle should "look" great or bad ass for that matter.

Looking great shows that we take pride in maintaining that expensive equipment. I bet we'd hear all kinds of shit from the public if we didn't keep those rigs looking their best. Damn, 20 years in the fire service tweeked me a little. I can't stand having my shit NOT dialed in. My garage, my closet, my truck etc. It's a sickness I think.


Yeah Alcoas are nice and we went to them quite a few years back. The guy heading up our apparatus committee told me why we got them instead of the steel wheels. Something about weight versus strength, maintenance, etc(gotta keep painting the wheels). An independant study was done before we ordered Alcoas on our new rigs. The study pretty much verified that buying Alcoas ( or any billet wheel) that will last the life of the rig was less expensive than buying steel wheels and having to repaint them on a regular basis (back to the looking good part). We also used chrome hub caps for a while. Pieces of crap that don't stay on. BTW, at least in the PSFD, the firemen keep the rig polished, including the Alcoas. We don't pay anyone to do shit that we can do in house. Including fabbing tool brackets, mounting equipment, minor repairs, preventative maint. etc.

And your'e right, it costs about 750,000+ bucks to get a rig built to spec. That's a ton of $$. Then we have to buy all (or a lot of it anyway, hose, tools, generators, Breathing apparatus etc) the equipment for it.

There's really nothing that I'd consider unneccesary on any of our rigs. I wouldn't even consider any of our equipment "nice to haves". Most tools we have/carry are multi-functional. Now that GPS tracking device..........that sucks.

 

[maxwedge]

Can you give us the long version? :blah:

Lol...Jesus who posted all that shit under my name?

 

[ROC]

HEY......WAIT JUST A FUCKIN MINUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!


How did this cop-bashing thread turn into something about firemen?

Fuckers.................can we please stay on topic.

 

[TBI]

HEY......WAIT JUST A FUCKIN MINUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!


How did this cop-bashing thread turn into something about firemen?

Fuckers.................can we please stay on topic.

As soon as we explain to Nord how gold leaf lettering holds up to heat better than vinyl :thumbsup