IN SUNNYVALE, THE police are tasked with law enforcement as they would be anywhere else, but they are also prepared to wield a fire hose against conflagration, insert breathing tubes on a person with blocked airways and even deliver babies if the need arises.
Sunnyvale is one of just a handful of significantly-sized cities nationwide where police, fire and emergency medical technician services are all conducted within a single department, according to Public Safety Capt. Dzanh Le. Le said that Sunnyvale has the second largest department of this kind in the nation (after Kalamazoo, Michigan), and that Rohnert Park is the only other place he knows of that does it in California. Sunnyvale has had the arrangement since 1950, according to Le.
“It’s pretty unusual,” Le said, adding that the level of training involved can be “incredibly demanding.” All Sunnyvale emergency services personnel are trained as police, firefighters and EMTs (training lasts about a year-and-a-half, with follow-up training every year.) All are at the disposal of a different division as needed, and all of them work as both dedicated police and firefighters at different points in their careers (Sunnyvale does not have a separate department for EMTs, as both firefighters and police provide many of those services; the city also receives help as needed from a private company that dispatches paramedics, who have a higher level of training than EMTs.)
Sunnyvale still has separate police and fire stations, and employees of each are uniformed accordingly. Yet, police are apt to get requests for assistance with a fire or medical emergency even when it does not appear to involve a crime, and likewise are firefighters kept apprised of police matters. The two dispatches are interlinked, and sources said that the two constantly exchange information and that it’s not uncommon for cops to find themselves administering First Aid or helping to prepare a fire hose.
“A lot of the time we beat (the fire personnel) there,” said Robin Smith, a K-9 police officer and 23-year veteran of the department who returned to police work three years ago after six years as a firefighter. “We can get through traffic quicker in our vehicles, and we’re already out and about most of the time.”
Benefits add up
The benefits of having a combined department are manifold, according to Le.
One, it reduces expenses for public safety services by an estimated 35 percent (according to figures gathered by the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety in 2018 comparing their costs to those of nearby municipalities), both because of lower administrative costs and because fewer personnel are required on the ground when the departments work more closely together. Two, it improves the overall quality and rapidity of crisis responses. Three, it improves department morale because employees have some choice over where they want to work and generally aren’t confined to one area their entire career. Four, it can humanize police and improve their relation with citizens when they are seen as helpers in other emergencies besides only law enforcement.
According to Le, the department chooses each year which employees will be police and which will be firefighters, taking into consideration employee preference, suitability and seniority. He said that, while the fire department is a mecca for many stressed out police, there are plenty of others, such as himself (Le has been a police officer 18 of his 21 years with the department), who prefer police work.
“Sometimes it’s hard on fire when you’re gone 24 to 48 hours (Sunnyvale firefighters work three 24-hour shifts per week), and you can’t go home at night to be with your family,” Smith said. “Or maybe it’s good, but it depends on your relationship.” Smith added that she’s inclined to remain in the police department because of how much she enjoys her canine companion and because “it’s different everyday.”
“One aspect that’s different about being police is there’s an inherent tension with a lot of the public. … So there’s something refreshing about going from that position … to where it seems like everybody loves a firefighter or an EMT — the kids are waving at you, everybody loves you. Even though in both my goal is to help people.”
Andrew Herbert, Sunnyvale Public Safety Officer
Sunnyvale firefighter Andrew Herbert, by contrast, described his switch to firefighting three years ago as a much needed relief. Herbert previously worked seven years as a Sunnyvale detective and patrol officer after working five years as police in San Jose.
“One aspect that’s different about being police is there’s an inherent tension with a lot of the public, which is understandable,” he said. “Even I feel it as a citizen when a police car is driving behind me. So there’s something refreshing about going from that position where people have a negative view of you, to where it seems like everybody loves a firefighter or an EMT — the kids are waving at you, everybody loves you. Even though in both my goal is to help people.”
Herbert added that, compared with the heavy grind of police work, firefighting has been an agreeable combination of more intermittent action punctuated by divine thrills.
“Seeing the power of fire up close, but also the power of high volumes of water, and to go into a structure and save as much as possible — it’s exhilarating,” he said.
Herbert’s enthusiasm was readily seen on a tour of a Sunnyvale fire engine, where he displayed its various storages — protective uniforms, the pump panel that controls the intake and discharge of water, and from the vehicle’s back compartment, a whole array of First Aid devices. Those included a blood sugar gauge, bleeding control materials, oral and intra-nasal breathing tubes, naloxone for opiate overdose, a heart defibrillator and an emergency obstetrical kit. Many such tools are available in the police vehicles as well, he said.
“There are officers who’ve delivered babies — I’m not one of them,” he said.
As a police officer in San Jose, Herbert said he was occasionally called upon to administer basic First Aid, though much more rarely than in Sunnyvale and without the more advanced EMT training his current position requires.
“In San Jose, if a call comes in that a person’s having a heart attack, the city won’t send the police,” he said.
Partner and companion
Elsewhere on a recent Friday, Smith cruised around the wide, tree-lined streets of Sunnyvale in her K-9 sports utility vehicle, trying to spot action on a day that she called one of the slowest ever. Doc, her black Labrador retriever, stepped carefully and slid around somewhat in a sort of built-in kennel between the front seats and trunk, though Smith left the front partition open so he could occasionally come forward and solicit affection.
Smith said she moved to the fire department nine years ago after her previous dog, a German shepard named Colt, died from cancer (Smith said many police dogs don’t live very long because of repeated exposure to harmful chemicals). After six years as a firefighter, she came back to police when the department went looking for a new dog and needed an officer to train it (Sunnyvale currently has four officer/canine duos).
“I always said I wanted to end my career as a handler,” she said.
In fact, Doc is an embodiment of the department’s purported ethos. Friendly and approachable, Doc is the first non-German shepard in the history of the department, Smith said. He is also the first dog that is not trained as an “apprehension dog” (i.e. able to attack a fleeing suspect), though he is a master detector of fire accelerants (Smith did a demonstration where she hid several Q-tips dabbed with fuel in various nooks around the offices of the police station; Doc made quick work of finding all of them) and an overall locator of sundry evidence and missing persons.
In an era when the police do not always elicit the same reverence from the public as they once might have, Doc also plays an important role as one of the department’s ambassadors — happily showing up at public service events, blithely socializing with attendees and showing off his skills. In other words, not a prototypical cop.
“A dog is a dog, but it opens up doors,” Smith said.
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