EMS employee addresses Metro Council about contract dispute

You can statistically figure that a certain number of people will be "out" on a given day, and yes, you can staff accordingly. You could, for example, put the new guys who are ready to go solo on a rotation where they will be assigned as needed around the divisions, on a shift, but assigned as needed. Then, if they aren't needed to fill in, they could be put on a special detail that is staffed when there is someone available. They would then work up to a set division, and eventually, to a set beat. Beat assignments are meaningless anymore, anyway - since someone riding, for example 123, might actually be assigned to beat 1 or 5. I'm wondering, what do you all think of the assigned call number now? I've long thought it was goofy, and it has to be confusing - when 123 is riding, for example, beat 5, why continue to call them 123?