Image from Tempe Fire Department website.
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Take a moment to read this entire article from Laurie Merill from the Arizona Republic about the forced retirement of the chief and assistant chief of the Tempe Fire Department in Arizona. It tells of efforts to keep the story of a suspicious fire at a firefighters home out of the news media. The firefighter was also later accused of assaulting the assistant chief the night of the fire.
If their goal was to keep the story a secret it obviously did not work. It has now made the news in a big way and resulted in a shake up at the top of the department. Here’s an excerpt:
Tempe’s fire chief and assistant fire chief retired from their posts last month after an independent investigation found they had committed serious errors during a suspicious fire at the home of a firefighter in their department, according to city officials and documents obtained by The Arizona Republic.
The report ended the careers of Assistant Fire Chief Marc Scott, a 34-year veteran, and Fire Chief Mark Simmons, a 31-year veteran. They retired in May after the city manager confronted them with the findings of the investigation.
According to the report by Scottsdale, which was asked to conduct an independent investigation to avoid a possible conflict, Scott and Simmons were more concerned about avoiding a media event than in obtaining justice.
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Also on STATter911 …
- Details of prostitution ring involving Baltimore firefighter outlined by prosecutors. Jamar Simmons described as a pimp. – August 10, 2012
- Highland Park Firefighter Scott Ziegler’s 15 minutes of fame goes into overtime. Uses helmet-cam to advocate for firefighters on ABC’s World News Tonight. – January 17, 2013
- ‘Person of interest’ brought in for questioning in Los Angeles arsons. 12 new fires overnight. 55 fires so far. – January 2, 2012
- UPDATED: Suspicious fire in Prince George’s County, MD leaves two dead. One jumped to death. Other dead in apartment. – January 13, 2013
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Well, obviously these 2 idiots were the precursors to the new Minister of Propaganda up in Colorado. They just needed some more training in how to handle it.
You have to ask:
“What were they thinking”?
As a friend of mine likes to say, “if you’re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough”. As Dave has accurately said in the past, if you have an issue or problem, don’t hide it. Get out in front of it, deal with it appropriately, and move on. These individuals have now given the Tempe FD a black eye that the new leadership will have to try and recover from. It takes years to build a good reputation, and only one stupid mistake to ruin it.
Dave: I know you could present a good symposium with case studies of denial, cover-up, secrecy and lying by public officials. My observation is that no matter how bad it is, its beneficial to find a way to make an announcement as early as possible with as much information as is appropriate for the situation. It then puts the management of the situation in your hands, shows good leadership, and sometimes even makes it non-news worthy. If you believe in such things it may even be good karma.
Thanks Mike. You know we agree on that.
Statter