I have decided to get back into writing a a bit about “stuff” and this article (that you unfortunately won’t be able to read unless you are subscribed) is one that has been troubling me since I read it in print at my parents’ house yesterday.

Help is on the way, the bill is in the mail

City charges realtor $4,600 after hazmat team dispatched

Barrhaven realtor John Coburn wasn’t too pleased when his staff showed up for work and found his office had been vandalized. Just three weeks earlier, the windows had been kicked in. This time, the office was covered with a grey-green powder.

(Ottawa Citizen, Sunday, October 8, 2006.)

The short of the story…

After discovering his office covered in powder, Mr. Coburn called 911 to report the crime. A police offficer arrived on the scene and decided that this was a case for the fire department. The fire department decided, based on the police officer’s report, that this was a case for their hazardous materials team. The hazardous materials team — a bunch of vehicles and 12 people in all — arrived on the scene. Two of them went in presumably to scout out the situation. The others waited “in ready” and “just in case”. The two who went in found that the powder was from a spent fire extinguisher (apparently the vandal let the fire extinguisher blow into the office through a mail slot) so… no hazardous material, just a bunch of clean up and, a month later, a bill that arrived in the mail (I assume through the same mail slot) for $4644 and some cents. Now the “real” learning begins…

The hazardous materials team of the fire department is a “cost recovery” unit. When used by businesses (not homeowners), businesses must pay. As all public services and agencies and departments have learned, the accounting is impeccable and the bill wonderfully detailed and Mr. Coburn’s bill included an itemized accounting of all 12 people who were on the scene (divided by teams, accounted for by time, the cost of implicated vehicles, the expendible and situation dependent clothes, gloves and two cases of bottled water). $4644 and some cents.

The realtor, Mr. Coburn, decided that this was crazy — after all it was the police who called the fire department who dispatched the hazardous materials team — and wanted to fight. He took this to his municpal rep. A bunch of discussion I am assuming went on between people and departments and/but the short of this was that the realtor had to pay the bill which now included the accrued late payment interest costs.

And the realtor found that the fire department had cut the office’s heating and ventilation when they came to check the hazardous materials and reconnecting this cost this realtor $4000.

The realtor submitted all of this to his insurance company. The insurance company paid one third of the bill. And the insurance company cancelled Mr. Coburn’s policy.

Now… how crazy is all of this?

We (homeowners and businesses) pay taxes. We pay all sorts of taxes. We pay a lot of taxes. I guess we’re wrong to assume that this covers police and fire protection in all of the subtleties of this. I guess we’re wrong to assume that when we call 911 to report a crime or ask for help that we have already paid for the services involved. I guess we’re wrong to assume that if something goes above and beyond “regular 911” services, someone would stop and say “Hmm… this isn’t covered by your regular taxes. This will cost you $4644 and some cents if we find nothing. Do you wish to go ahead with this?” And I am guessing that this opens the way even wider for private protection (many of us pay for this with security systems already) that will now include fire and hazardous materials services.

I can actually well see a time coming when not only do we have lawyers to represent us with the (“our”?) legal system, not only do we need agencies to help us decide which part of the medical system we should or can access, but now we need “emergency consultants” to interface with our police and fire services. I’m pretty sure that had Mr. Coburn known, he would have gladly paid someone $200 to check whether or not calling “911” was “worth it” or to negotiate with the police and fire department about which services were necessary when and to deal with the lawyers who would sue the pants off the insurance company who cancelled the policy because Mr. Coburn had the audacity to use it.

I still can’t get over this. We have become absolute victims of the systems we voted into place. Making our government and its services accountable does not mean — in my mind at least — the ability for these departments to beautifully itemize each cost we incur when we dare to use a service. It means being accountable. It means thinking before calling in a team of 12 people “just in case”. It means that maybe the police department should be smarter about interfacing with the fire department. It means that someone should care about the ultimate end result of all of our actions rather than simply doing “their part” by the books and on the books. Imagine the security system Mr. Colburn could have put in place for the money he blew back out his mail slot in dealing with this vandalistic prank. And, much worse, imagine the society we will soon find ourselves in if all of us pull our tax dollars out of public funds and invest/control it privately not only in education or health care but now police and fire protection as well. Oh… wait a minute… most of us are doing that already. I forgot. I guess those of us who aren’t will learn to so do quickly enough.

This is nuts.

And, notably, do any of us have any belief at all that the person who vandalized Mr. Coburn’s office has been caught? Do any of us have any belief at all that the search for this person even began?

I am actually completely nostaligic for the days of my childhood. I grew up in a village of about 1000 people. We did not lock our doors. We had the honour of having a village policeman, Mr. Ernie Samour, who sometimes had another policeman assisting him. Mr. Samour was an ex-wrestler. Big guy. Great laugh. And he was everywhere he needed to be. He knew all of our names. Stolen bikes were a big thing. And I thought that this was “right”.

My parents still live in the same village but there are about 5,000 people now. Mr. Samour retired (as did “our” family doctor but that’s another discussion and huge void). Police services have been centralized. I don’t remember the last time I saw a police car “patrolling” the streets. I guess protection has shifted to the notion of being able to “respond” in some risk-assessed, okay-minimal timeframe. And if we only have a stolen bike to worry about, I guess we’re supposed to consider ourselves fortunate.

When did this happen? When, exactly, did we stop expecting to live in a decent society? And, yes, I write that knowing that most people I know are indeed decent. And I include law enforcement officers and firefighters in there :o) It is our systems, our definitions of “accountable” that I question. It starts and ends with government. And I thought we “built” those. Guess I was wrong. Not many of us wish to hold ourselves responsible for those currently in office. No wonder our youth aren’t “buying in” (c.f. Canada Votes) to start with. And, no wonder “master planned communities” are popping up all over the place… but that’s another posting.