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Previous coverage of Milton Jenkins from Firegeezer.com
Click here for entire article at WTSP.com
Excerpts from article by Mike Deeson, WTSP.com:
Tampa Fire Chief Thomas Forward said, “I can tell you with respect to this promotion I have the utmost confidence in Milton.”
Jenkins, who has been the subject of other 10 News investigations, was just promoted to the job of protecting citizens from arsonists.
When we reminded Forward that Jenkins was once called incompetent, the chief said, “That’s right, but I didn’t call him incompetent.”
Fire Marshal Milton Jenkins.
Among the reason Jenkins was called incompetent is the fact that his department-issued weapon was stolen from him not once, but twice. The second time it was taken by Jenkins’ son, who used it in a home invasion. Jenkins didn’t properly report it.
In addition, Jenkins, who was also charged with insubordination and not following rules, was also evaluated as: requiring assistance on routine matters; not reliable under unusual circumstance; having disinterest in the job; and reacting negatively to criticism.
When we reminded the chief he said he concurred with the evaluation, he first said, “No! No!” Then, he admitted, “Well, yeah.”
After Jenkins had his gun stolen for a second time in 2010, the chief said it was inexcusable.
Jenkins was acting fire marshal when the department was trying to solve the case of the Ybor city arsonist in 2010. Some say he botched that assignment. At the time, Mayor Pam Iorio pulled Jenkins and the fire department off the lead role in the investigation. When the former mayor put the police department in charge, she apologized to the neighborhood, saying the investigation was not handled with the sense of urgency and coordination that she expected.
Milton Jenkins’ promotion was not finalized until he received a $1,000 city bonus that managers are not eligible for. Meanwhile, Jenkins fought the fire department designation of incompetence and an arbitrator overruled the fire department.
Jenkins also disagreed with the negative evaluations, but those findings stand.
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Also on STATter911 …
- Rural Metro under fire in Western New York. Claims it failed to report ambulance crew arsonists & investigation of billing practices. – January 16, 2012
- UPDATE – Dashcam-video & radio traffic: Milton, KY Chief Jason Long’s response during tornado that leveled firehouse. – March 4, 2012
- Dash-cam video & audio: House fire in Milton, Kentucky. – January 22, 2012
- UPDATE – Must listen to radio traffic & damage video: Tornado destroys Kentucky firehouse. Milton Fire & Rescue Station 2 hit this afternoon. Department featured in videos on STATter911.com. – March 2, 2012
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What. Am I reading this article correctly sounds like a bunch of BS to me.
Wow I would say I am suprised…. but I am not. Goes to show some localities will put anyone in a fire chiefs uniform. Strike Da Box! K
Being retired from DCFD and living in the Tampa Bay region I must say this sounds so similar to things that have happened in DC. Makes me feel right at home.
@tim. Being not yet retired from the same department, I don’t feel so alone at this moment. Until this article I pretty much beat my head off the wall every day that incompetents were advanced because they met another criteria for a not so hidden agenda. I say “play on playa”! Let them stars shine!
ROF&LOL I was thinking the same thing. The chief and LRB sound alike
I don’t know, having your issued service weapon stolen by your son – who in turn used it on a home invasion is pretty serious and irresponsible in my opinion. i place more weight on those two incidents than being reassigned by a Mayor.
Any sworn person in a similar predicament would receive serious questioning. I have NEVER lost my service weapon in over 25yrs…
The trend in government is to both hire as well as to promote ‘minorities’ who either can’t pass competitive exams at all or who score lower than ‘non minorities’ do. This story is just one example of the results that we are seeing in many parts of the fire service. If Federal Judges think that it’s acceptable to require that municipalities hire unqualified people who are unable to score high enough on job related, competitive exams instead of those people who meet and exceed acceptable standards, then why don’t these same judges require the same low standards for the bar exam and medical boards? I wouldn’t want this loser riding tailboard as a firefighter any more than I would want him representing my department as its lead arson investigator…
It sounds as if no one else applied. Who do you fault? Clearly the administration. We were not told of any good this guy has done, one would assume that it out weighs the other questionable acts. As usual though the media put a spin on one gun incident involving his son. The fact that the gun was “stolen” is not the issue. It is that he didnt report it. Not that i condone what his son or he did. We cant always predict what our family memebers will do. I sat on an assement center one time and was reminded by the Chief of that department that a one horse race can be lost. If none of the applicants meet the standard no one is promoted. We dont have to pick the lesser of the evils. We can open the process up to a wider variety of experinces.
Clearly, Jenkins was the most qualified person for this promotion,clearly. This sure has the appearance that Chief moving “Forward”(isn’t that the liberal montra), making the tough decisions to satisfy an old friend. Why let facts get in the way of a promotion. How dare anyone question this.
Give it a week or two and it will all be forgotten, sad but true.
How nice, the mayor “increased collaboration” with the PD.
I really am glad the fire chief has his official Obama plate on display in his office.
What a bunch of morons.
I didn’t know Ellerbe had a couple cousin’s in Tampa.
Well, I was going to axe how Forward was related to Ellerbe, but you beat me to it.
More cream rising to the top in our governments.
Unless other reporters and stations are picking up on this story, I’d take any story from Mike Deeson with a grain of salt. He tends to spin and sensationalize some stories for his “investigative reports”.
Give a brother a break! He didnt seem to be a bad guy, espically when confronted by the reporters like they do in Detroit. He must have done sumptin to really make those reporters angry. I really dig those epulets (is that the proper term?). They are really sumptin. Looks like a general or sumptin. In this case, he will screw up again and when he does the reporters will be on him again. Everybody be safe out there.
the shoulder boards are a west florida thing. i like them because it screws with the navy and coast guard guys-LOL
i think they are sharp
Tackey, tackey tackey. In Ca. personnel records are not confidential. Exception a “Pitchess Motion” in criminal matters as approved by a judge. So how did performance evaluations get into the hands of a reporter??? There’s more to this than meets the eye.
Sorry I didn’t re-read before I posted personnel records ARE confidential.
florida has something called the sunshine law. basically your entire file minus personal information such as home address,phone number (we tell rookies when they hire to get their phone # unlisted), wife’s name & where she works, kids names where they go to school is out but everything else is wide open. its good and bad
If, in fact, Jenkins was the most qualified individual for the post, that means that Tampa must have the most pathetically incompetent department in the USA, with the possible exception of our nation’s capital.
As a retired TFR member and know the players involved here. Rest assured this is the Fire chief making right years of oppression. I was witness to many of his antics. Skipping around promotional list to get the candidates he felt deserved the promotion. Milton tho a nice guy, I assure you wasn’t the best or only one striving for the promotion.
Geez, I wonder if the reaction would have been the same if the Chief and investigator had been white? There is a truly disgusting amount of racism in the fire service.
“Great potential” It seems this garabage line usually pops up somewhere when a Chief is defending a sorry excuse for a promotion. I have seen it before in my dept. A person makes a career of being a POS but never misses a promotion. And when that person gets promoted to a more senior ranking officer such as a BC, the fire chief has the nerve to say there is potential. We have to work with these slugs but the citizen is the big loser here.
Incompetence…promoted. Irresponsible behavior, corruption, cover ups, insubordination, lack of leadership, and poor evaluations on this man make him UNFIT for the job. What is going on, Mr. Forward. Do you realize how UNFIT you seem?
This strikes all of us as an affirmative action misstep, gone bad, really bad.
Shame on you, Mr. Forward, for misuing your power/position.
We see you have learned nothing in the Air Force.