Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
Today’s burning question: Two years ago while at the scene of a fire, a homeowner accused my fire department of stealing money from her bedroom. Because my crew was the only one to enter the bedroom to check for extension, we were accused.
The police looked into the case, but because it was our word against hers, the case remained in limbo until it was formally dropped last week. The allegations have been stressful for all of us and even contributed to the breakup of one member’s marriage. I was passed over for promotion last year and I cannot help but believe the baseless allegations created a “dark cloud” over me. I am not even sure that with the investigation now being formally dropped, that dark cloud will go away.
My question is what protections do firefighters have against false claims of theft from incidents? We are in people's homes, businesses, and vehicles regularly. If a person were to make a simple claim such as "I had money under my mattress and now it's gone", what can we do to protect ourselves from this type of legal dilemma?
Answer: There are two parts to your question: (1) What protections do firefighters have against false claims of theft from incidents? And (2) What can we do to protect ourselves from this type of legal dilemma?
As for (1) the bad news is… we have no legal protections. We can be accused of misconduct like theft, assault, and sexual misconduct quite easily with virtually no evidence… just an accusation. If the allegations constitute a crime, the police have to investigate and there is nothing we can do about how they choose to conduct their investigation. They control it… and if it takes two years… it is out of our hands.
As for (2), there are a few things we can do – (work in pairs, document any valuables that are found and turn them over to police, manage our reputations on a daily basis, etc.) but the most important thing that can be done is counter-intuitive. Our fire department needs to have a strong professional standards policy/program that is capable of thoroughly investigating these kinds of allegations.
The professional standards concept is a disciplinary philosophy that has largely replaced the old “internal affairs” concept in law enforcement. It looks at complaints – even seemingly minor complaints – as opportunities to improve the delivery of services. No complaint is too small and none will be swept under the rug.
By promptly investigating allegations (even sketchy, unsubstantiated allegations), cases like this would not be allowed to drag on and on… tarnishing our reputations in the process.
When the evidence is simply not there to establish that we committed a wrongful act – the system clears us!!!!… Mind you – this is the fire department clearing us from internal departmental charges… we of course cannot control the direction of the police investigation. However, the truth is the truth and it is not at all uncommon for a professional standards investigation to uncover exculpatory evidence that helps clear a firefighter from criminal allegations.
Professional standards is not just a new name for old-school internal affairs. It involves a completely different mindset. One of the most essential components of a professional standards system is an investigator who is trained in how to conduct an investigation and more importantly understands that the job is not to "get" a firefighter. The purpose is to get to the truth. Sometimes that means a firefighter must be disciplined/terminated. Often it means the firefighter will be exonerated. But the investigation must be done professionally and credibly.
All too often fire departments do not have the in-house capability to conduct a thorough investigation. As a result the allegations are not promptly investigated, or worse – investigated by someone with little training who mistakenly believes his/her job is to "catch" or "convict" an accused firefighter… The dreaded “Joe Friday” investigator. The result can be a "witch hunt" that violates the firefighter's due process rights and ignores facts that may tend to prove the firefighter was innocent.
So about now you are probably asking… well if the professional standards concept is so damn wonderful… why hasn’t every fire department in the US already adopted it? Its simple: investigating misconduct by firefighters goes against our culture. It offends our core values that say we "protect-each-other" and "I got your back brother". In fact many fire chiefs fear adopting such a system out of a concern the firefighters will view it as a lack of faith in them… or worse that the fire chief does not have their back!!!!! Again – it is counter intuitive.
In your case a prompt investigation (target date is 30 days after the complaint is made) likely would have come back with either a "not-sustained" finding – the provable facts do not support you being found guilty, or “exonerated” – the provable facts indicate that the allegation simply did not occur.
What would one of those findings have meant to you and your family if it was issued 30 days after the allegation was first made? Makes you wonder who has whose back… the department that chooses not to investigate these kinds of allegations because they “care” about their firefighters, or the department that has a professional standards system.
Note: the identify, rank and department of the submitter of the question have been omitted and the details altered to protect his identity.
