Training is an Investment, Not an Expense

According to KGO-TV, the ABC news affiliate in San Francisco, CA, on May 30, a 57 year old man committed suicide by drowning himself at Crown Beach in Alameda, CA.  Horrified citizens, the man’s mother, and public safety personnel looked on helplessly.

This death is sad for all involved. I understand why people are dissatisfied with the actions of the police and fire departments.   After listening to the representatives of these departments, I can also understand why these officers held their ground.

This story is not about the failure of either department to respond. Both city public safety departments responded.  This suicidal gentleman died because of a failure to train. Training failure is an open invitation to lawsuits time and time again.  Officials cut training because they consider training an expense rather than an investment. The personnel on scene held their ground because they had not been trained, prepared, or equipped to initiate a land-based water rescue.

The end result will be the implementation of land-based water rescue procedures and training. The family will be awarded a settlement out of court.  The City of Alameda will spend much more money after the fact, because it took the death of a suicidal swimmer to establish training which should have been in place when this very sad incident occurred.