Last Saturday night every police cruiser in Providence was called to Level II, a nightclub downtown. A melee was in progress, ending with the stabbings of seven people, and multiple other injuries.
The press focused on the fact that EVERY cruiser in Providence was needed to quell the riot. Less newsworthy was the fact that EVERY ALS unit in Providence also responded.
There were no cops to patrol the city for a little while late Saturday night. Every day, day after day, week after week and year after year EVERY ALS unit in Providence is tied up on medical calls.
Dog bites man is certainly not newsworthy. Man biting dog might get you a headline. Providence EMS Run Ragged is simply business as usual.
Cops describe chaos at Level II
5 stabbed during Easter morning melee
Updated: Thursday, 12 Apr 2012, 12:53 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 12 Apr 2012, 12:41 PM EDT
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Chaos. That is how police described the scene when they arrived to Level II nightclub in Providence early Easter morning.
Five people were stabbed inside the Richmond Street club, and 200 more were gathered outside in the parking lot ready to fight.
During a Wednesday hearing before the Providence Board of Licenses, police urged the members to shut down Level II for good.
"Chaos," said Officer DeMarco of the Providence Police Department. "There were fights all over the place and a lot of blood on the floor."
Eyewitness News has learned that dispatchers ordered every officer in the city to the nightclub district, forcing Cranston Police and State Police to cover all other calls.
"In 23 years, I've only heard four calls for every car in the city to respond," said Officer Gregory Daniels.
The four veteran officers who testified told board members they feared for their lives.
An attorney for the club's owner says he's not commenting until the board reaches a decision.
A hearing will continue on Thursday, the club remains temporarily closed.
Nothing to see here, folks, move along.
How readily can the police utilize mutual aid from surrounding cities and towns? How easily can the EMS system? Are there private ambulance services that have ALS trucks in the city? I doubt there private security companies could respond to calls when all the cruisers are tied up…
“Hell of a way to run a railroad.”
@emt.dan
There is no requirement for private ambulances to respond to calls from a city. Additionally, this likely happened in the middle of the night, when private companies traditionally cut back staffing. In my city, on the night shift, we frequently send our ALS ambulances to calls that the private companies don’t have the units to service.
Michael can tell you that in Providence it’s the surrounding cities and towns that supplement the lack of resources provided by the Mayor and City Council to the citizens and visitors.
Thanks TOTWTYTR, I wasn’t sure where Dan was going with that, the mutual aid agreements between RI cities and towns works great, unless a city the size of Providence under staffs their EMS division, and it’s more mutual bailout the big city with no reciprocation than aid. It’s causing a lot of problems, and cannot continue. But I’ve been saying that for years and nothing changes. We lost a police officer this week, all Providence rescues busy, mutual aid needed for one of our own, delayed response, the whole nine yards, at ten in the morning. It is sickening and demoralizing.