Fire / Police Department Interview

[Sasquatch Art]

For everyone that doesn't know, I am a student at Florida Virtual School. I am taking only three classes as of now in order to graduate early.

My newest assignment for American Government was to conduct and interview. The following statement was taken right from my Class assignment page.

Call your local police or fire department and interview one person on the disaster preparedness plan for your community. Be sure to get their full name, job title and a phone number where they can be reached, as you will need to include this in your interview write up. Before conducting your interview, please view the slide presentation of Guide to Conducting an Interview for helpful tips and guidelines.

Problem is I called North Port, and Venice fire/police departments, they took this as a joke :eek: ......I seriously have no clue to what to do now.

Is there anyone here that would be willing to let me interview them? I could do this over PMs...or even IMs.

Thank you for reading.

[PythonWallace]

That sucks. I'd keep trying. I had to call the police once when a minivan ran me off the road and f'ed up my car. I gave them all the info including the driver's license plate # and make and model/color, but they seemed like my complaint was a burden on them. I went back the next day to get a copy of the police report and all it said was that I hit a curb, and that there was no 2nd party involved. I asked the cop why, and he said that since they took off, they would probably just say that they weren't in the aera at the time, and it would be their word against mine, in which case there would be nothing the police could do. That's a lot of what ifs. Is it too much to ask these people to do their jobs to serve and protect people?

[daniel1983]

Always explain first off that this is a school assignment to assess the disaster preparedness plan for the area. If they disrespect you, take their name and ask to speak to a supervisor. Don't be afriad and just tell them what is needed.

[lord jackel]

Most PD also have a political officer whose job is news interviews and other community information type stuff...see if you can track them down. A local politician might also work and they are ALWAYS willing to chat about how great they have made the city.

[Kristy]

My uncle is a firefighter here locally. From personal experience, riding with them. You probably aren't going to get a firefighter who is on duty to do an interview. They are actually pretty busy even when they aren't on a call.

I would suggest finding an off duty officer or fire fighter. Or finding a volunteer department and speaking with a volunteer firefighter. Usually there will be one or more full time firefighters at the volunteer stations also.

[Shadowspider]

After reading this, I got curious so I called *my* local fire and police depts. and asked them, if I were a college student doing an assignment...etc. etc.... and if the fire/police thought it was a joke, who should/would I need to speak to in order to fulfill my assignment.

They both told me the same thing, "ask for the chief. If he/she is unavailable, leave a message pertaining to your needs and *why* you are doing this as well as your phone number".
Now OK, that's dependent on them actually calling back, which some will, some won't but yeah, ask to speak to the police/fire chief or at the least, a supervisor.

[Sasquatch Art]

Thank you all for your advise. I will try and contact a chief / supervisor, and see how that goes.

[Larry Suttles]

Request to speak to the P.I.O. public information officer. You will most likey have to set up an appoitment though.

Chances are nobody else will do it for fear of misrepresenting the department

Hope this helps.
Larry

[frankykeno]

Ashley, many moons ago I was an emergency services dispatcher for fire and police in a smaller community. You do have to go through the proper channels dear, no one will just up and give interviews over the phone. Contact either the police or fire chief's secretary to set up an appropriate appointment or ask if they have a designated community relations officer for either department (you may find this out as well through your local town/city office). Call during normal business hours and remember to use the non-emergency phone number.

[Sasquatch Art]

Thank you again everyone. I will defiantly try this again tomorrow, but this time go through different steps. Everyone has been more than helpful. <3