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Firefighter Code of Ethics sorely needed
• Recent Margate 're-hires' pose detriment to Fire Service reputation
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Sunday,
June 6, 2010
Unethical behavior among firefighters is a growing problem nationwide; the focus of a fire service reputation report that aims to identify the detrimental impact of immoral and inappropriate behavior by fire rescue personnel on the departments and communities they serve.
“Like every other profession, we in the fire service suffer from the embarrassment and damage to our hard-earned reputation because of the very few who choose to break the law or rules. While that may be unfair; it is our reality in today’s world of instant, mass communication.”
- Kelvin Cochran, United States Fire Administrator
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Here in Margate, two firefighters accused of sexual misconduct in 2006 recently got their jobs back, as a Florida State Attorney four years later ruled that evidence of rape in their case was insufficient and reduced original charges of “sexual battery” to “simple battery” resulting in the full reinstatement of Margate firefighters Eric Stever and Michael Henneforth.
These types of incidents, states the report published by a Mid-Atlantic fireman’s association, undermines public respect and support for the fire service, leads to public embarrassment and is the “wrong kind of exposure” for the fire service at large.
The report calls for the immediate formation of a Code of Ethics for the nation’s fire service, “as the next logical step for the profession,” states Cochran, concluding that the actions of a small minority of bad actors can have grievous widespread consequences, and that the fire service as a whole must be increasingly vigilant in policing itself.
Although union arbitrator, Robert Hoffman, labeled Stever and Henneforth’s behavior as inappropriate at their most recent hearing, he ruled that acting indecently in public isn’t something a firefighter should lose his or her job over - Hoffman’s decision overturning a ruling by arbitrator Stanley Sergent in 2007 that backed Margate city and fire officials in suspending the two firefighters for an undetermined period of time shortly after the incident occurred.
"The city had no choice but to suspend them in the interest of protecting its public image and maintaining its ability to provide safe and effective Fire and Rescue Services," Sergent wrote, adding that suspending the two fire fighters was necessary to protect the public from the potential threat of improper conduct by its employees.
Some leaders in the fire service have expressed a concern that the problem of integrity and ethics has risen partly as a result of “a fire service culture so burnished with the moniker “hero” that its members ultimately forget that they must continually earn the public’s trust,” states the report, and if the “proffered hero status" within the fire service is not properly balanced with a sense of ethical responsibility, some fire service leaders fear that individual firefighters can develop a harmful attitude of entitlement.
Because arbitrator decisions are binding, Margate Fire Chief, Garry Westbrook was required to hire Stever and Henneforth back to work, replacing two promising new recruits who Westbrook had to let go because of staffing constraints – albeit unwantingly.
Westbrook said no one in the rank and file has come forward to say anything for or against Stever and Henneforth returning to duty.
The female trainee who was allegedly raped in 2006 never became a Margate Firefighter.
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