Last night there was a checkpoint set up in Lake Elsinore. I heard a callsign that I haven't heard before (CDF). These were people working with the RSO running plates and licenses. Anyone know what it stands for?
-- Doug
New Call Sign?
Re: New Call Sign?
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). Riverside County contracts with Cal Fire to provide fire and EMS services for the county as the Riverside County Fire Department. Usually, a mobile command center is provided to RSO for these checkpoints. Here is a picture of it at the bottom of the page.
http://www.angelfire.com/ri2/chucksfire ... Fire5.html
http://www.angelfire.com/ri2/chucksfire ... Fire5.html
Re: New Call Sign?
That too.Anonymous wrote:It's the CDF Arson Investigators who are sworn Police Officers.
Re: New Call Sign?
Actually, most of the Chief officers with CDF (now known as Cal Fire) are sworn California Law Enforcement officers. In addition, as already mentioned, CDF has a team of law enforcement officers, commonly known as "Prevention Officers" who are the Fire Departments personal police force.
These guys (a team of 9 captains and a battalion chief) are responsible for all arson investigations, fire related crimes, records management (fire reports, etc.) and internal affairs (theft from fire stations, fights between firefighters, embezzlement, etc) among many other duties. They primarially hang out on the RSO frequencies, usually the Perris talkgroups (allthough they'll bounce around as they move throughout the county). They are identified by the Fire Department as Battalion 3120 (the chief in charge of the group) and Prevention 3121-3129 (indicated on the vehicles as "P3121", P3122", etc). The Sheriff usually referrs to them as "CDF 121", "CDF 122", etc. Additionally, some cities will operate their own Prevention unit(s), and they are usually identified according to the battalion they are in. An example of this is P15 out of Temecula.
In addition to the normal fire related law enforcement duties, these guys love to play cop and pull people over for traffic violations, etc. Their jurisdiction is actually the entire state, just like the CHP. When I was a dispatcher in Perris, we used to get calls all the time from people who had been stopped and cited who would call and say "are fire fighters really allowed to write me a ticket?" Hilarious.
The checkpoints (especially the ones in Lake Elsinore) are always a mutual agency operation, and CDF generally has at least a half dozen or so officers present, in addition to local fire volunteers for lighting support and a Com unit (usually Com 11, formerly Com 33). Most of the CDF personell at the checkpoints are the highest ranking officers (Chief 3100, Chief 3101, etc) and they absolutely love getting out there and taking bad guys down. I once personally helped Tom Tisdale (former Chief 3100) taclke and handcuff a DUI driver who tried to run away. The guy was like 400 lbs, too!
These guys (a team of 9 captains and a battalion chief) are responsible for all arson investigations, fire related crimes, records management (fire reports, etc.) and internal affairs (theft from fire stations, fights between firefighters, embezzlement, etc) among many other duties. They primarially hang out on the RSO frequencies, usually the Perris talkgroups (allthough they'll bounce around as they move throughout the county). They are identified by the Fire Department as Battalion 3120 (the chief in charge of the group) and Prevention 3121-3129 (indicated on the vehicles as "P3121", P3122", etc). The Sheriff usually referrs to them as "CDF 121", "CDF 122", etc. Additionally, some cities will operate their own Prevention unit(s), and they are usually identified according to the battalion they are in. An example of this is P15 out of Temecula.
In addition to the normal fire related law enforcement duties, these guys love to play cop and pull people over for traffic violations, etc. Their jurisdiction is actually the entire state, just like the CHP. When I was a dispatcher in Perris, we used to get calls all the time from people who had been stopped and cited who would call and say "are fire fighters really allowed to write me a ticket?" Hilarious.
The checkpoints (especially the ones in Lake Elsinore) are always a mutual agency operation, and CDF generally has at least a half dozen or so officers present, in addition to local fire volunteers for lighting support and a Com unit (usually Com 11, formerly Com 33). Most of the CDF personell at the checkpoints are the highest ranking officers (Chief 3100, Chief 3101, etc) and they absolutely love getting out there and taking bad guys down. I once personally helped Tom Tisdale (former Chief 3100) taclke and handcuff a DUI driver who tried to run away. The guy was like 400 lbs, too!