Is it just me, or has the amount of emergency services using their sirens
increased in the days since 7/7? Each and every time I set foot outside this
week, the air has been split by about three emergency vehicles sreaming
past. Hey! As I type this I can hear the shreik through the window!

There is an almost 100% certainty of going deaf whilst walking through
Shepherds Bush Common these days.
Is the hot weather causing emergencies, or are more people panicking and
ringing emergency services for whatever reason; or maybe there are the usual
number of bomb hoaxes rung through by cretins? I saw the police block off
Wood Lane (to the BBC) the other day. That's got hoax written all over it.

Or maybe I'm only noticing the racket now.

P

"Phil Lepherd" wrote in message
...
Is it just me, or has the amount of emergency services using their sirens
increased in the days since 7/7?

I was thinking exactly the same this morning.

Mick (Northolt)

"Phil Lepherd" wrote in
:

Is it just me, or has the amount of emergency services using their
sirens increased in the days since 7/7? Each and every time I set
foot outside this week, the air has been split by about three
emergency vehicles sreaming past. Hey! As I type this I can hear the
shreik through the window!

I don't know about increased siren use, but if you walk through the
streets of London you can't help but notice an incredibly high police
presence.

Is the hot weather causing emergencies, or are more people panicking
and ringing emergency services for whatever reason; or maybe there
are the usual number of bomb hoaxes rung through by cretins? I saw
the police block off Wood Lane (to the BBC) the other day. That's got
hoax written all over it.

Wood Lane was shut off because a passenger on a bus outside Television
Centre noticed an unattended package. Given that this happened just a
few days after the bombings, would *you* be the one to say "oh not to
worry, someone's probably just forgotten their lunch"?

Also bear in mind that the BBC is considered a high-profile target for
terrorists: on 7/7 there were police officers stationed outside every
BBC building (on Home Office instructions, apparently), and even now the
BBC is on a permanent heightened state of alert. Just stand in front of
TV Centre for 5 minutes and watch the vehicles going in and you'll see
that all cars and bags coming on to BBC premises are being thoroughly
searched.

Iain

Well the BBC in Wood Lane was target a few years ago (admittedly by the IRA
I believe) and a suspect vehicle (Taxi?) was blown up by the authorities.
Also, now everyone is on tender hooks, you'll find that the empty McDonalds
back all of a sudden becomes an unattended package AKA a suspect package.

Loony T

"Iain" wrote in message
...
"Phil Lepherd" wrote in
:

Is it just me, or has the amount of emergency services using their
sirens increased in the days since 7/7? Each and every time I set
foot outside this week, the air has been split by about three
emergency vehicles sreaming past. Hey! As I type this I can hear the
shreik through the window!

I don't know about increased siren use, but if you walk through the
streets of London you can't help but notice an incredibly high police
presence.

Is the hot weather causing emergencies, or are more people panicking
and ringing emergency services for whatever reason; or maybe there
are the usual number of bomb hoaxes rung through by cretins? I saw
the police block off Wood Lane (to the BBC) the other day. That's got
hoax written all over it.

Wood Lane was shut off because a passenger on a bus outside Television
Centre noticed an unattended package. Given that this happened just a
few days after the bombings, would *you* be the one to say "oh not to
worry, someone's probably just forgotten their lunch"?

Also bear in mind that the BBC is considered a high-profile target for
terrorists: on 7/7 there were police officers stationed outside every
BBC building (on Home Office instructions, apparently), and even now the
BBC is on a permanent heightened state of alert. Just stand in front of
TV Centre for 5 minutes and watch the vehicles going in and you'll see
that all cars and bags coming on to BBC premises are being thoroughly
searched.

Iain

There might well have been a noticeable increase in the number of
emergency services vehicles that you will see going to incidents on
blue lights. The number of security alerts has gone up very
substantially since the bombings -- people aren't willing to give
unattended packages the benefit of the doubt (and quite rightly so).

The problem is that these alerts need a lot of people to deal with
them, especially when it comes to clearing people from streets and
buildings.

This, coupled with people being very aware of the emergency services
around them, probably explains why people think there are more police
around than there were before the attacks.

In article , Iain spamtrap@dee
psea.force9.co.uk writes
Just stand in front of
TV Centre for 5 minutes and watch the vehicles going in and you'll see
that all cars and bags coming on to BBC premises are being thoroughly
searched.

Iain

Surprised you were not interviewed. Standing outside a likely target
for 5 minutes watching cars going in and out. Looks suspicious.
Michael Moore was interviewed when he stood outside the Saudi Embassy
(Consulate?) in USA.

--
Nicholas David Richards -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

In message , Phil Lepherd
writes
Is it just me, or has the amount of emergency services using their sirens
increased in the days since 7/7? Each and every time I set foot outside this
week, the air has been split by about three emergency vehicles sreaming
past. Hey! As I type this I can hear the shreik through the window!


Or maybe I'm only noticing the racket now.


I work near Aldgate and by 5 pm on that Thursday the sirens were
beginning to get to most of us at work. It's like trying to carry on
as usual in a war zone, and I would imagine most people in the City
had the same experience.

Now I just think we're all a bit over sensitive to sirens, but hopefully
that will fade.

I saw a lot of police cars charging along empty roads, sirens going
like mad that afternoon. Was it necessary, does it help ?
I think it's a bit soon to ask, but the use of sirens and their effect
on
the morale of the populace needs looking at IMHO.


--
Edward Cowling London UK

I saw a lot of police cars charging along empty roads, sirens going
like mad that afternoon. Was it necessary, does it help ?
I think it's a bit soon to ask, but the use of sirens and their effect
on
the morale of the populace needs looking at IMHO.


Unfortunatly, the police will be critisiced whatever they do. I'm an ex
member of the emergency services and can assure you that blue lights
and sirens are only used in genuine emergencies, although very often
these emergencies turn out to be less urgent once you arrive there. I
was a paramedic, if we got a call to, say, a collapse, we'd obviously
use lights and sirens to get there. Once in attendence at the **** head
trying to get a days sleep in a doorway somewhere, in hindsight the
quick response was completely unnecessary, but going on the information
given by the original 999 caller completely required.

So, what do the police do? Not use sirens and drive cautiously to every
call, wishing when they get there and find it is a genuine emergency
they got there quicker? Or, respond to every call urgently, realising
that a number of those calls will be completely false alarms?

What happens if they are driving to a call without sirens and someone
steps off a pavement in front of them. Will they get criticised for not
using the siren?

Personally, I used to turn the siren off if there was no traffic, and
no obvious hazards ahead. A (very) few of my colleagues used to turn
the siren on leaving the station, and off once they got to the scene.
Each to their own. The end of the day, those few were probably taking
the safest option.

Anyone who complains about police cars whizzing about have got to ask
themselves, if they were being attacked and call the police for help,
would they want the police to attend urgently or not? The police
officers wouldn't know if it was a genuine call until they arrived at
you. Is it a hoax? Mates larking about? A domesitic row? Just because
you phone up and say its genuine doesn't make it any different to any
of the other calls they've been out to that day. Some urgent, some not.
Some genuine, some not. All equally urgent to the emergency staff until
they actually arrive on scene.

Personally, I'd rather be criticised for making to much noise than
taking too long to get to a call.

Iain wrote:



I don't know about increased siren use, but if you walk through the
streets of London you can't help but notice an incredibly high police
presence.


There have been police on duty outside both my local stations all this
week (Norbiton and New Malden). Yesterday morning, there were 3 officers
at Norbiton! However, in a way this can be beneficial as an unattended
bag was found in the back coach of my train to work one morning this
week, and the fact there were officers on duty meant it could be checked
and cleared within minites, rather than us all having to endure a
lengthy delay and be late for work. I wonder how long this will be the
case for, and where have all these extra police come from?? (I used to
go weeks without seeing any officers on the street).

Cheers
Steve M

Steve M wrote on Sat, 16 Jul 2005
There have been police on duty outside both my local stations all this
week (Norbiton and New Malden). Yesterday morning, there were 3
officers at Norbiton! However, in a way this can be beneficial as an
unattended bag was found in the back coach of my train to work one
morning this week, and the fact there were officers on duty meant it
could be checked and cleared within minites, rather than us all having
to endure a lengthy delay and be late for work.

irony smiley
So what special equipment did they have for checking it? Endoscope,
robot, portable X-ray machine, ..... ?
--
Iain Archer To email, please use Reply-To address