deputies and pds into jail?

[sgtbear111]

samseed101's question "...why do people get upset...??" Very good question, probably not answerable by agency management. A question to remember when cooperation is lost, and agency management acts selfishly, so they get to be "first-up" at the press conference. "...why....?"

The problem is T-U-R-F; a juvenile game played at the command level of the emergency services - Police, Fire, EMS, and at all jurisdiction levels - City, County, State, Federal. It can, and does, infect all levels of the chain of command.

Turf is the opposite of cooperation, it is anti-cooperation, and it is deliberate. How many of us can point to an incident, or case, sometimes a life or death matter, that got all screwed up because the management (cannot refer to them as leadership) didnt call for for more qualified outside assistance, refused that assistance when offered, or did not pass on information about a serious suspect or crime? A large Pacific N.W. city is in a litigation between it's Fire Dept. Police Dept, the police and fire unions, and involved citizens, from an incident involving the "whose turf ? " question of rescue divers. Should they be the domain of the police or fire service?

After 27 years as a professional observer of people, agency turf wars, and those who play, remind me of: (1) a group of old male dogs at a fire hydrant competing for who gets the last leg-lift, squirt, and sniff; or (2) a group of 12 year old boys trying to see who can pee the farthest, or write their names in yellow snow.