Hospital security force and police work as team www.privateofficer.com

Hazelton PA. March 19 2008
Standard-Speaker
By KENT JACKSON Staff Writer

Hazleton police often take people whom they suspect have committed a crime to the hospital for treatment or tests, but earlier this month they rushed to the hospital to prevent a crime.
Security at Hazleton General Hospital called for help quelling a disturbance between a father and son on March 5 that could have boiled into something worse.“The son had been arrested for something. The father was berating him and threatened him,” Hazleton Police Chief Robert Ferdinand said.

After police arrived at the hospital, the father was given a psychiatric evaluation and confined against his will in a psychiatric facility.The incident illustrates the interplay between Hazleton police and hospital security guards who have a tradition of working together to safeguard patients and visitors.“Historically, when we’ve needed assistance from the local police, they’ve been here quickly,” hospital CEO James Edwards said.

Six days before the altercation between father and son, whose names were kept confidential, a 250-pound man slipped away from police when they took him to the hospital after he allegedly resisted arrest. Christopher Garcia, who complained of pain after police said he assaulted two officers, remains at large.While those two incidents made news, interactions between police and the hospital occur routinely.Doctors and police, along with firefighters, ambulance staff and other emergency responders, plan together for dealing with disasters.

Hospital security workers patrol the campus and other property of the Greater Hazleton Health Alliance, but city police also check those places.

Police take people, like the father in the March 5 altercation, to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation.“You’re looking at the criteria … either they are a danger to themselves or someone else,” Ferdinand said.Police deliver people suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs to the hospital for blood tests.

Occasionally, they interview victims, suspects and onlookers at the hospital.“It depends on how critical the incident is. If the victim is of a shooting, obviously we have a need to get information as quickly as possible,” Ferdinand said. I

f victims are conscious and if a doctor grants permission, police will interview them right there.Police also talk to relatives and friends who come to the hospital and know about the incidents in which victims were involved.“That can happen,” Ferdinand said. “Ideally you want to identify them and ask them to come to the police station if more questioning is necessary. It’s just a better setting.”The victims can include other officers – as after a shootout in November 2006.Police are responsible for guarding prisoners they bring to the hospital, Ferdinand said.

But hospital security can call police for help with patients or visitors if, for example, they suspect someone possesses a firearm.“Our security – (they) don’t carry weapons nor would we want them to – if we fear a violent situation at the discretion of the security (staff) we’ll call the Hazleton Police Department and ask them to respond,” Edwards said.

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