By Denise Hollinshed
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Copyright 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
EAST ST. LOUIS, Mo. — East St. Louis police and an ambulance company that serves the city are at odds, with some paramedics saying they are afraid to go on calls without police presence and officers threatening to arrest them if they don’'t.
Ambulance crews are sometimes concerned for their safety when heading to calls when police aren’'t there, said Chuck Kelley, owner of MedStar Ambulance. The company has already scaled back services, partly because it has had a hard time finding paramedics willing to work in the area.
Kelley said paramedics and EMTs had been kicked and beaten while responding to calls.
“Nobody’'s been stabbed or shot, and we are thankful for that,” he said.
Ambulance crews will hang back and seek a police presence if they feel it’'s needed, Kelley said.
“Our people can’'t help others if they are injured themselves,” Kelley said. “They are taught that if the scene is unsafe, not to go in until they get help.”
East St. Louis Assistant Police Chief Lenzie Stewart said the practice had led to some frustration from officers.
“We have had some police officers who wanted to arrest them because they didn’'t want to follow protocol,” Stewart said. “It’'s a life-and-death situation that should be dealt with.”
Kelley confirmed that officers had threatened to arrest his employees for waiting to go onto scenes.
“They have verbalized their opinion on it,” he said. “They don’'t understand our situation. If we are told that someone has a gun or knife, and if we are unable to stabilize that person, then we have to wait for help. If they are armed and dangerous, then obviously we have to wait.”
Police response times may be part of the problem. Kelley said response times varied when police were called for backup.
“It depends on what they have going on,” he said. “If somebody says that they have a gun and threaten to shoot someone, we will wait as long as it takes for the police to get there.”
Kelley said police were usually prompt when it mattered most.
“I do know that East St. Louis can use more officers because they are getting strapped for people,” he said.
East St. Louis Police has 60 officers today, compared with 97 officers 10 years ago, though the crime rate is about the same, according to Stewart.
Kelley said that since a change in the administration in East St. Louis, police had been more cooperative.
“They are responding with us on some calls,” Kelley said. “When they are needed, they come out. We haven’'t had many problems recently.”
In May, MedStar Ambulance reduced the number of services it provides in East St. Louis and four neighboring communities. The ambulance company said that a shortage of paramedics willing to work in the East St. Louis area and a delay in reimbursement from the state on Medicaid payments had driven the decision to provide only basic life support instead of advanced life-support services.