Interesting thought.

I had more than a few muffled conversations in fire houses talking with guys about fire layoffs, and the consensus was, fire was in general, over staffed and over budgeted, and the city would not be significantly less safe with fewer personal and equipment if things were re-organized.

brush trucks instead of as many engines, centralized ladder trucks, more use of independent EMS for medical only calls, integration of inter-department mutual aid and volunteer support, etc. This is not to mention the use of private fire departments, which usually cost much less and don't show statistically significant inferior response times or results, just costs the person who's house burns down a lot if they don't pay for fire coverage...which was always less than the tax burden for the same service, but it was voluntary as opposed to taxes. Like West/South Metro Fire (I think these are private subscription based) here vs. Denver/Westminster Fire, same end results, one will just cost less.



I don't know enough about policing policy to be sure this applies as well, but its interesting to think about in an era when everything, and everyone will probably bear the brunt of budget cuts eventually, not just "liberal" professions and expenditures, like teachers and medicare.