TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Police and firefighters may hold your safety in their hands---and they can face threats every day. Wednesday, they trained for threats that do not involve a gun or a knife.
To first responders and utility workers a car wreck may be more than an accident scene. It's a potential crime scene and one they need special care to deal with.
Fire fighters may have a patient to save, police may have evidence to save and they all have to save themselves from the risk of a shock that could kill them.
Joseph Barrios of Tucson Electric says, "Our employees, they're highly skilled, they're highly trained, they know their jobs but they don't necessarily know the jobs of the police department or of the fire department and I'm sure the same is true for those agencies."
In the rush to make the scene safe, police put lives first but if what seems like an accident is all part of a crime scene they need to try to preserve evidence too.
A water bottle that might seen like trash could carry valuable fingerprint or DNA evidence.
And in the modern age of terrorism all responders need to watch out for the chance there hidden threats like booby traps and bombs.
Tucson Police Sergeant Mallory Denzler says, “There are people out there who want to do people harm for many reasons and we have to be cognizant of that and looking for hazards that might not be visible. They might not be obvious like a downed power line is and so our officers need training to be able to recognize things that could put them at risk."
And police, firefighters, and utility workers need to absorb that training so well, in a real emergency using what they learn here is a matter of reflex.
