No Paramedics?
Why are there no paramedics on Adam 12?
shareThe paramedic program wasn't that well-known during the time of Adam-12's run on the air, and it really wasn't this show's job to introduce people to it. The vast majority of people first heard about paramedics when watching Emergency!, but that show began only a couple seasons before Adam-12 went off the air.
In any case, the few times we see an ambulance in the later seasons of Adam-12, it was probably easier to just use the old-style "scoop-and-run" vehicles, staffed by untrained drivers. Adam-12 kept the focus of the series on the police officers.
That makes a lot of sense.
shareAlso, the episodes are based on real events, most of which were at least a couple of years before those episodes were made. Adam-12 began in 1968 and the Wedsworth-Townsend Act didn't go into effect until July 1970 (signed by Governor Ronald Reagan), so the writers probably didn't have access to cases that had paramedics until at least the fifth season.
In addition, Adam-12 was about the Los Angeles Police Department, LAPD, while Emergency! was Los Angeles County Fire Department, LACFD. I don't know when the LA Fire Department, LAFD, started their paramedic program. I think LACFD was one of the first in the nation. Emergency! apparently led a drive to expand both paramedic and EMT programs around the country.
I do know that the LAFD has their own ambulances for transport. LACFD still uses utility type trucks for squads and private ambulances for transport.
This was also prior to hospital changes that put Emergency Rooms at the forefront. Notice in Dragnet and Adam-12 they talk about Central Receiving Hospital or some other "Receiving" hospital. These were the only hospitals that would "receive" emergency patients. Other hospitals would require you to be admitted by a physician that had privileges. I know of one hospital in Los Angeles today that operates this way. Their sign clearly states "NO Emergency Services!".
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