Roles and Responsibilities (M1)
The Police, Ambulance and Fire service all have their own responsibilities; however they all must work together at a major emergency incident.
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The Police
The Police will have to control the flow of traffic if there is any, block of the road or incident from the sight of civilian view so the services can operate quickly and effectively.
If the Police was the first service on the scene then they would have to produce a log of the incident to inform the other services of what has happened and what needs to be done to resolve the situation at the scene of the incident.
Most likely any sort of major incident will become a crime scene, even more so if there is a fatality. The Police will have to conduct an investigation at the scene to gather evidence for conviction.
For example, there has been a road traffic collision, it was a head on impact, one of the cars that was involved, the driver and passenger were fatal. After the ambulance have done what they have needed to, the police now need to reconstruct the moment of impact and take into account the markings on the road that could be anything from scuff marks on the road surface, to braking marks from the tyres.
By doing this they can gather the evidence needed to figure out the collision, find out who was travelling above the speed limit and create a digital reconstruction of the event. This can be presented to a Magistrate or Judge if the case was to go to court.
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The Ambulance
The first priority of the Ambulance service is the save the life of any casualties involved in the incident.
Also they must provide treatment and stabilise the casualties at the scene, unless they immediately need to get to hospital for major treatment.
Same goes again for the Ambulance service if they are the first on the scene, they must create a log for the other services to work quickly and effectively.
The scene of the incident must be preserved as the Police and investigation teams will need to investigate the scene to understand why the incident happened, or to gather the evidence needed to convict a suspect.
Going back to the head on impact collision scenario, the driver of the other car is still alive but unconscious, due to the other two people already fatal, the priority is will the person from the other car who is still alive.
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Fire service
At a major incident the Fire service could be extinguishing a car fire or a surrounding fire that could threaten the rescue process of a casualty.
The Fire service must detect and protect the scene from any hazards that may compromise the scene later for investigation.
Same as the other two services, the Fire service must create a log so the situation can be resolved as soon as possible.
The scene of the incident must have limited amount of personnel compromising the scene that could make the investigation into what happened more difficult to solve.
Finally back to the head on collision scenario, the unconscious driver is alive but is trapped in his car. This is a situation where the Fire and Ambulance service will have to work together quickly to get to the man before his injuries get worse.
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Scene Preservation (M2)
Scene Preservation is very important; upon arrival at the scene of the crime, the first officer must record the time, date and weather conditions and take action to preserve and secure the area. To preserve a crime scene it must be cordoned off or protected if outside, tents etc.
Nobody should be left alone at the crime scene they may remove, replace or contaminate evidence.
Nobody is innocent until proven guilty.
The smallest piece of evidence can link anybody to the crime e.g. A strand of hair, blood, finger nails and even tread off of shoes.
Nobody should be left alone at the crime scene they may remove, replace or contaminate evidence.
Nobody is innocent until proven guilty.
The smallest piece of evidence can link anybody to the crime e.g. A strand of hair, blood, finger nails and even tread off of shoes.
The services dealing with the scene have got to ensure that themselves do not become included with the investigation.
They should wear:
- Gloves - so no finger prints our transfered.
- Masks and Hoods - so no hair or sweat can fall from the body to the floor.
- No tread shoes, covers for the shoes - if shoes are coverd in mud they may leave a certain print.
- Long clothing on the arm and legs.
- In some circumstances goggles may be worn - if forensics are dealing with gases or liquids.
Reconstruction of a crime scene can also help the investigation. Like before objects and other evidence can be removed and if forensics produce a reconstruction of the scene they can interpret the series of events in a crime.
Sketches and photographs of the scene are produced at the very begining of the investigation. This is a very important piece of preserving the crime secne. If the investigators notice that something of importance is missing or it has been moved throughout the investigation, they can refer to the photos or sketches to back up their suspicions.Specialist Units such as forensics, are and will be needed at the crime scene due to their special training and tactics. A normal police Sergeant would not have the skills or training to perform experiments and other preservation skills. The scene has to be left alone to the specialists. The responding services can still cordon of the area and make the appropriate actions to control the crowd etc. The responding services do not have to leave the area completely. They can stay and lend a hand to the specialist service, for example, if crowds are getting too big to deal with, the police are there to control them.
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Health and Safety (M3)
Other health and Safety legislation that is used by the Police is the Police (Health and Safety) Act 1997 and the Subsequent Police Health and Safety Regulations 1999, which is a review of the First Act mentioned. Both of these came about due to the Health and Safety at work ect Act 1974.
On arrival at the scene, the crew must move all pedestrians away from the scene to make sure that no harm can come to them or to the first crew on the scene due to the pedestrians getting in the way of the services. Also, all other crews must be briefed on what has happened by the first crew to find where all the risks on the scene are. The emergency services must also be careful of what they do at the scene to ensure that they do not cause themselves any harm, or anybody involed at the scene, and to prevent any casualties any further harm.
It is also standard for all emergency response drivers to take an advanced driver course to ensure that they can safely drive at high speed when in crowded areas whilst responding to emergency incidents. This is to ensure that no other incidents occur due to the emergency services actions whilst they are responding to emergency incident.
