Lock. The. Damn. Doors.

[Bernhard]

So what do the services without automatic door locks do?

Since we still are in that situation, I can tell you..: after arriving on scene the driver circles the ambulance locking every single door.

Case in point, on a critical chest pain call, working the patient up and getting ready to go and many of you will send a fireman or first responder to get more oxygen or another piece of equipment. All the doors are locked. The compartments are locked also. The person finds all the doors locked. Delay in patient care right?

No. Just take everything you need with you before locking the door. Our equipment is packed in a way, one provider can take all what a patient may need (since we do single provider first responder calls). It's heavy, though. Stretcher, other lifting aids, and special immobilisation items not included (we don't need them in first responder calls because there would be another ambulance arriving soon).

If we need something more, then we have to remember taking the (single!) key to open the door. Since we have a radio only in the ambulance this is true for every message we want to get over radio. So, in a CPR situation I would prefer the phone.

Do the responding agencies know how to unlock your rig?

If they have the key it's no wizardry, just with any other (old) car. Fire department would have other possibilities, but I wouldn't like them to try on our ambulance.

If they know this then the criminals know too because all they have to do is watch you or someone in your service open the door with the hidden button to unlock and they know now how to rob ya!

No hidden button, just a key in the trousers of the driver. Or in the side pocket. Or in the jacket. Or there on the patient's side. Or just slipped under the bed. Or...damn!

I want to have a central locking system!

[Dustdevil]

Case in point, on a critical chest pain call, working the patient up and getting ready to go and many of you will send a fireman or first responder to get more oxygen or another piece of equipment. All the doors are locked. The compartments are locked also.

The person finds all the doors locked. Delay in patient care right?

If so, I'm firing the medic for not being properly equipped in the first place. Firemonkeys are for carrying your equipment back to the ambulance, not to the patient.

Do the responding agencies know how to unlock your rig?

Yes. They know how to ask me for the key. They passed a civil service exam, so I give them that much credit.

So locking the doors is a deterrent but it's not the end all of security.

That's why you put Shatterguard film on the windows, just like in my car. Nobody will be getting in fast enough to not get caught (and shot).