Volunteer police have been an instrumental part of Western policing since the inception of the concept of police. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania utilizes volunteer police under the title of “Special Fire Police.” Described as “firemen cloaked with police powers” in corresponding case law, these volunteers are statutorily provided with full powers to regulate traffic and keep crowds under control at any fire or emergency and to exercise other police powers which are necessary to prevent interference with the work of firemen. Although these volunteers have been in use for more than 50 years, the other police powers they are granted by law have remained largely undefined. This research will examine the current statutory and case law relevant to special fire police as well as those relevant to general Pennsylvania police powers to demonstrate the circumstantially defined police powers that could be adopted based on interpretation.
The disciplines of law enforcement and fire–rescue services have maintained a tradition of performing separately but together in terms of cohesion at the emergency scene. This can be attributed to differing operational focuses and organizational culture, leaving a response gap in unified command and functional response efforts. In order to bridge this cohesion gap, several states have implemented legislation that establishes an operational nexus between the two disciplines. Known as “fire police” in corresponding law, these personnel perform duties that draw upon specialized knowledge and practice in firefighting and police powers. Although these specialized personnel have been used for the past several decades, a void remains in academic discourse of the duties they perform, the powers they maintain for exercise, and where they fit in the emergency response picture. This investigation focuses on fire police within the United States and performs a statutory comparison of the states where they exist to provide a better understanding of their role.
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