“You know, just in case….”

While we cover a lot of topics on the whacker and wannabe epidemic, some topics are on the fringe but still interesting. This is one of those topics. Where this one started is deep in the FCC rules it says anyone can transmit on a public safety owned radio frequency if there is an emergency that requires attention and/or help. Like a lot of rules, this is one of those that are there in case something happens but is rarely, if ever used due to the other modes of communication around now days. Now for the most part we have cell phones, land line based phones, or even people who are certified to handle emergencies to relay the information for us.

Like lighting laws, 99% of the public doesn’t know nor do they care with what they can get away with. Probably the same part of the population doesn’t know about this long forgotten rule that we discussed above from the FCC. Now this is where our topic of the week gets interesting. In the past we have heard of licensed amateur radio operators (hence known as “hams”) modifying their ham radios to talk on public safety bands (sections of frequencies devoted to ONLY the public safety sector). Their rational is they do this in case they need to talk to the professionals to report and emergency. While it is not illegal to do this, some have to wonder why with other legal and less intrusive means of communication available. Some have even gone as far as to transmit on these frequencies to hear the repeater on the other end acknowledge the transmission. Like impostors and select wannabes, they get the thrill like a little kid who got into the cookie jar and did something bad. As they giggle to themselves, we shake our heads in disbelief.

To go a step further, some look for reasons to abuse this privilege. While it be volunteering at some amber light club in a pseudo-self described official capacity or being a vigilante crime stopper.

We recently found where a user that goes by the name of “REACT” on a popular lighting forum and they went into detail on why they have these frequencies programmed into their China radio and why they insist they will use them in any emergency:

“I am perfectly legal having it programmed with the local Sheriff, Fire, and EMS channels and repeaters, as well as their CTS/DCS tones, and I do! Even on the scene of an emergency, it can be vital to be able to communicate to emergency personnel. For example:

Say I am closing a road to traffic for a vehicle accident with injuries. The firemen are on the scene attempting to push/lift a car off of a woman. A car comes up to me with a drunk driver inside, who drives right past me. I can grab my radio, touch two buttons, and be saying "WATCH OUT" into the mic. Believe me, I've heard firemen, police, and EMS do the same thing when they see a car barreling up to the scene, "Heads up, car!" While it may not be the best option (depending on how far from the scene I am blocking traffic), it is definitely viable in a lot of cases. If someone is on scene and hurt, and myself and others are there in response, you better believe that the situation is classified as an emergency.”

Later in their post:

"Say I am on a county road and I see a telephone pole fall in high winds, right inside of a house, sparking an instant fire. I can simply call in on my GMRS designated REACT frequency to alert the central dispatcher at the sheriff's office of the situation, but if my REACT repeater were offline, or if I were not a member of REACT, and just a local ham, you'd better believe I would be on the fire frequency for my county contacting the dispatcher. I'm not going to drive 10 miles to try to find a pay phone that I think might be located at such and such gas station--if the cord is still attached and it's not jammed with a quarter. I'm not going to go to the house next door and knock and wait on someone to answer and give me their portable phone. I don't have a cell phone, and there are many places in my county where cell phone gets no service. I'm going to act as quickly as possible, because those situations warrant use of ANY frequency of radio I can possibly use at that particular point in time with ANY power level."

So we can gather from this spectacle that instead of finding other easier ways of communication, we will just bend that FCC rule to our perception of it and use it? If you ever worked on a fire ground or a static law enforcement scene, you would know how confusing someone yelling “watch out” would be over the radio. Add this to the fact they are operating on scene with no direct communication with the incident commander and you have disaster waiting.

In the end there are laws on the books that are there for the very rare emergency, not an excuse for someone to play with the officials. A lot like lighting law abuse by some, others see this as a way to feel closer to the real thing without being a part of the real thing in an official capacity. There are a lot of tools or laws that are there for emergencies but we shouldn’t be going out of our way to find ways to use them. Be normal, use training and common sense in emergency situations.

Brought to you by Policeposers.com and external sources.

Escort Whackers, RESPECT THEIR AUTHORITA!

You have seen them at one time or another, escort whackers. We aren’t talking about just the wide or hazardous load escort vehicles (it is a legitimate job) but the whackers among them. With the lighting market more affordable and easier to obtain, some escort whackers have been brazen enough to cross the line from legitimate use to too much. We here at PolicePosers.com keep tabs on several venues that are either friendly to whackers/wannabes/impostors or embrace them with open arms. The escort whackers have been stepping into the spot light in recent times with their prolific abuse and overuse of lighting and even illegally or illegitimate lighting.

While the line of illegal and illegitimate lighting is different among different groups, we will highlight what we see here. A few escort whackers forget their presence is a passive one, mainly there for warning other roadway motorists of the potential hazard they are escorting. While this is what a lot of escort employees expect, others think they own the road they drive on and make attempts at confusing or intimidating motorists to pull over or otherwise yield to the escort service and/or the load they are escorting. Some examples are illegally colored lighting, flashing OEM lights on the escort vehicle itself (Tail light Flashers, Head Light Flashers), or even aggressive tactics such as using the shoulder of the road to pass and so forth. More than once our members have witnessed escort vehicles set up to look like in service police cruisers with lighting, graphics, and even uniforms.

So where is this all going? As time passes, REAL emergency lighting users will need to increase their vehicle lighting more and more to get the public’s attention and keep their response times low. One of the reasons that can be attributed to that is those who don't need what they have (too much/non-needed lighting) and abuse what they have (treat their amber-only lighting as emergency response lighting). We are talking about overzealous whackers just like what we described above who stretch the limit of what they need in terms of lighting and how many laws they break to get their desired target affect. While most hazardous/wide load escorts are great people with proper lighting setups, some aren’t and makes the rest look bad.

Brought to you by Policeposers.com.

Memorial Day (US)