McDuffie, Ralph
Operational Medical Detachment

With society facing ever-increasing violence and the subsequent increase in incidents involving critically wounded persons, law enforcement is being trained to advanced levels of casualty care and prepared to render closer to, if not at, the point of injury in a vast array of environments. Even with the strongest interoperability relations with fire rescue and emergency medical services, until scenes are secured, most will not respond into a direct or indirect threat environment. The Lake County Sheriff's Office (FL) has addressed this with the establishment of Operational Medicine Detachment, supporting emergency and non-emergency incidents. With 30 tactical medical responders, with scope-of-practice ranging from Tier 2 (T2) emergency medical responder, with enhanced skills-sets, to paramedic (T4), all are sworn law enforcement officers, including agency physician responsible for medical direction and oversight.

Ralph McDuffie - Bio
Ralph McDuffie began his law enforcement career in 1994 and is currently assigned to the Emergency Management Bureau of the Lake County (FL) Sheriff's Office. He serves as the agency's Emergency Management Coordinator and County Emergency Operations Center Operations Section Chief. He is also the SWAT Team commander and has been on SWAT since 1995. His law enforcement experience dates to 1987 while in the USAF as a Military Working Dog Handler. He instructs for the Lake Technical Institute, and Florida SWAT Association, and the NTOA.