Reply With Quote:jawdrop:
And I can across a nice artical on the front page... (http://www.sacbee.com/797/story/128246.html)
So Now I will ask all you firemen/EMTs... WTF?
:jawdrop:
Im a Fireman/Paramedic, and also an EMT instructor. We do backgrounds on all of our EMT students which include DOJ screening, fingerprints etc. There are hundreds of thousands of EMT & Paramedics in Cali and there will be a few people that sneak by with a bad records. Unfortunantly when there are as teachers, cops, fireman etc in Cali, they wont all be clean.
good ol cali thank god for swartzinager
Yellowboat;
I did background investigations for our department (L.E.) for years, and I share your frustration.
At least, in L.E., potential candidates and, "journeymen" California cops are trained and held to the same standard to get a "license" to be a cop. That license, issued by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, is earned after the educational requirements are met, and then that probationary officer has certified to have been working for a Cal. L.E. Agency for 1 year.
I think the EMS folks ought to be under some sort of state deal like POST, and they are to some extent, but the regional medical groups like the Sac-Sierra outfit are quite territorial and sadly, it is going to take stuff like this to make improvements happen.
It would be a helluva lot more efficent way to do business, and the entire system would improve, imho.
In any event, the first public safety agency that hires somebody in a role like this carries a huge burden to do a in-depth and no-stone-unturned background on candidates, and the weeding-out process continues with Psch. testing, etc. I don't know any outfit that takes this lightly, but being human, mistakes can be made, and sometimes a turd slips through the cracks, no matter how hard we try.
Better, more open communication between agencies when a "journeyman" employee is seeking to transfer to another shop would help alot.
Sadly, if employer A gets a call from a background investigator working for employer B, who is looking into a loser employee at A because the employee has appplied for a position, Employer A is always tempted to polish the turd up in hopes that he will leave and become some other outfits problem.
Background investigators who are good at their work and dedicated to weeding out the turds have a huge impact on the quality of the people who get into the field.
Most ambulance co. are private, not civil service. Due to cost of proper background checks they let turds slip by. These are not high paying jobs, almost minimum wage for emt's and paramedics. (Not complaining, just stating the facts.) These are not public safety people who go through a rigorous battery of tests to earn the job. Mostly it is like going to McDonald's and filling out an application and passing a drug screen and dmv.
I agree that due to numbers a few less than desirable people slip into the public safety professions, IE. police/fire-municipal agencies.
To come out and start a thread FIREMEN/EMT WTF! is jumping the gun a Little. If these people worked for any public agency the dept they worked for would be stated and drug through the mud. AMR is not a Fire Dept. IT IS A CORPORATION. That does not mean that all the folks in the private ambulances are bad, just that there is the possibility to have a few more with questionable backgrounds than the public employee side of things. For the most part good people just trying to live, doing what they like for a living.
I am a FF/PM. If anyone on my dept pulled a stunt like this they would be gone! PERIOD. People have been fired for getting a DUI, even after probation. We as public safety/first responders are held to higher standard than most other professions. When someone screws up and the police get involved and the person works for a public agency it gets bad press for the whole profession. (Doctors,nurses,teachers,police,fire.)
I agree these turds should not be allowed to serve the public. It is an honor to serve and protect our communities, something that is very dear to me. I treat every patient i work,as if it was my family member or close friend, that is what I am paid to do and what I choose to do for a living.
So before you go bashing my brothers/sisters by starting a thread with a title like that you should read the article again. I fail to see how it is the local fire Dept's failing at this. The problem is with the state of California EMS. So how about "hey Arnold WTF"
Sorry for the rant, it had been along winter.
YB, you always look to start somethin up with us firemen, let it go... there are shitty shady peeps everywhere I guess... I do not agree with it, however I do not agree with what the paper says all the time either...
btw, was that you I helped out of your car tonite upside down in the middle of hwy 95?
The fire dept. for years put the public at risk by not hiring the best ......... so why would this suprise anybody
What do you mean the best for years and so surprise? What are you referring to? Again the article is not about the fire dept's. Have you personally had bad service from a fire agency? It is possible, I just hope no one would thats all.
To come out and start a thread FIREMEN/EMT WTF! is jumping the gun a Little. If these people worked for any public agency the dept they worked for would be stated and drug through the mud. AMR is not a Fire Dept. IT IS A CORPORATION. .
Actaully the artical I posted was cut short on line. In the bee itself it went on to add how EMTS were going from cheif to cheif trying to get reinstated and how some where.
there was also this
That kept former Orange County EMT-firefighter Raymond Carl Smith's employer in the dark about his 1985 conviction for child molestation. Smith renewed his credentials with the state fire marshal for nearly two decades until he was rearrested on suspicion of molesting two girls in 2004. He was immediately assigned to a desk job before retiring with a full pension, said Battalion Chief Ed Fleming.
Fleming said his department learned Smith was a registered sex offender from the San Bernardino County sheriff - and then only because the sheriff routinely notifies other public agencies when their workers are arrested
I'm sorry, but when the FIREMARSHAL reinstates some one and another fire district hirers him and only finds out from a diffrenet county sheriff that he molested a kid, there is something wrong. I also can't see how he was aloud to retire with full pension. How does that work? you should not be alloud to retire ( with or with out pension) he should be fired. He should not have even been asigned the desk job. he should have been fired on the spot, union or no.
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