Here’s a nifty efficiency idea: You know how when there aren’t any fires, the firefighters don’t have much to do other than to cook and clean their fire trucks? How about having them use that down time to fight crime?
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom suggested Monday that the city park fire trucks and their crews on streets in violence-prone neighborhoods to deter crime.
A thug, he suggested, would be less likely to shoot someone in front of a firefighter.
. . .
His idea is to pull the firefighters out of their firehouses, where they’re stationed when not responding to fires and medical emergencies, and plant them in their rigs nearby — visible to the public. There are 43 fire stations in San Francisco.
The neat thing is that when the shooting erupts out on the streets, the firefighters will have their water hoses handy to douse the violence and restore order.