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Permalink Reply by dan172 on March 7, 2009 at 5:39am

Well I have read eight pages of dump on the cops from most and some who say this is wrong. and even though I am sitting in my police uniform responding to this I too agree that this probiblly was a bad idea, but it was an even bigger mistake by the fire department management in that town. they were given uniforms, I imagine Turnouts and a Fire Engine. After all my friends in blue are good but they are cheep, thats why I don't think they went down to the local fire gear rental store and payed for it. They were most likely loaned it by the Fire Department. Now do I think they should of used this particular deception? No, I do not Cops are cops and Firefighhters are Firefighters. I also agree that doing this breaks the public trust which we try continually to establish and keep ; as firefighters to be nutral in the community, That we are there to provide safety and security to all. That is why we can go into hostile area and exit safely. To those of you who decided to show how much you hate cops, the next time you get pulled over and hope to drive away without a ticket because you are a firefighter and show him your badge, I hope the cop likes you, and did not read the donut comments. Stay safe.

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Permalink Reply by Ron Graner on March 7, 2009 at 8:51am

There are a lot of firefighters upset about the issue of cops posing as firefighters to catch bad guys. We all have made mistakes. I looked at the Town web site and they are welcoming Chief Conroy as their new Fire Chief. I have no idea how long the police chief has been around. Those who have been chiefs know how easy it is to make a mistake when an idea looks so simple on the surface.
The fact is the police and fire department leaders all made a mistake that can have long term negative life threatening effects on members of the fire and EMS services around the world.
The police chief and fire chief and the town need to immediately release a joint press release publicly admitting they made a mistake posing as firefighters and EMTs. The press release needs to even more importantly state that they will never repeat that mistake and caution all other police departments against making the same mistake.
You can send a message to the town leaders expressing your concerns at the following email addresses.
If you do send a message to the town please remember to be professional and that you will be speaking for all firefighters.
select@newportnh.net,police@newportnh.net,manager@newportnh.net,manager@newportnh.net

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on March 7, 2009 at 10:29am

Now this pissed me off i don't want to get shot tryin to help someone because they have something on them and they think im a cop this job is hard enough without having to worry me or my family is goin to get killed . I think people need to look into that dept. I hope everyone is safe

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Permalink Reply by Randy on March 7, 2009 at 10:45am

look we all have a job to do and if the cops had to dress like us to make thigns safer then so b it let them b it will be ok plus we all know tat they were living out there dreams being firefighters lol

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Permalink Reply by Greenman on March 7, 2009 at 10:55am

I have two things to say in regards to this. First this is a big deal because Firefighters have a Right of Entry which the Police do not have. Police officers are required to have either Reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed in the premises at the time, or a court approved warrant to enter the property. Firefighters do not require those, so the Police entering under guise of being Firefighters not only poses a risk for Firefighters being mistaken for Cops, but also opens the Police Department to allegations of Fourth Amendment Violations and could potentially cause the criminal to walk thanks to their illegal use of a Firefighters Right of Entry.

Second, who in the Newport Fire Department thought this was a good idea and let the police have Firefighters uniforms (I assume they mean bunker gear) and an engine?

GM

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Permalink Reply by Bob Allard on March 7, 2009 at 11:05am

To me this is a bunch of crap, its the same as inpersinating an officer( in this case a firefighter) and its also pull a false alarm, which there is a law about pulling malicious alarm. No, that is true no one got hurt this time but wait someone is going to get hurt or have a heart attack, so or latter no one will leave because they will think that its the cops playing again, or like someone above said a firefighter will be shot. What about the firefighters who drive around in old police cars and respond to calls, one in my town, the police arrested him for police crimes. Why not send the perp a letter that he won a contest and when he shows up arrest him then.

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Permalink Reply by Steve on March 7, 2009 at 11:12am

Yeah your so right man so what they betrayed our uniform. So what they are so bad at their job to have to stoop to that level. So what that a firefighter may be killed next time because of these jackasses. Toughen up

What planet are you from? This is a problem and should have never occurred and if you don't see that that you along with the cops that did this need to seek mental help.

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Permalink Reply by John Walker on March 7, 2009 at 2:50pm

The cops did not have the BALL to wear there on uniform cop thank they are the LAW but this is wrong. it makes targets out of firefighters aswell.

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Permalink Reply by PEDRO.T on March 7, 2009 at 3:00pm

This is against the law to impersonate a firefighter and to pull a fire alarm the police officers that made the arrest needs to be arrested them self that pisst me of

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Permalink Reply by Paul Young on March 7, 2009 at 4:12pm

There are several issues here that have been addressed. Whether or not impersonating a firefighter is legal or not is not something that I am qualified to speak on as I live in a different state. But, I did read earlier, who authorized this action is something I would like to address. The fact of violating the Public Trust is one of the major issues, but the biggest is the violation of trust in the fire chief. He let his people down, and put them in danger needlessly. We as mentors teach our members a little thing called RISK ANALYSIS. The risk is great in the future for the firefighters' safety in that town and the firefighters nearby, and in fact everywhere that has news and or the internet. The gain? I really can't see one. The police where I work use the SWAT team, Tactical Team, they go by different names, but they are equipped, and trained for that sort of opperation. We discourage our officers from from making entry into structure fires because they don't have the training or equipment to make entry into a house fire. In my humble opinion here, dicipline should be handed down to those in charge that allowed this to happen. Law enforcement and the fire service work hand in hand and should have a good working relationship, which we have in my town. Our officers have entirely too much respect for the fire department to put us in that position. That is what we have here as I see it. That is sad. The chief made a mistake and will answer to the members one way or another. Hopefully there will be no retaliation against the FD by the bad guys. The consequences will be horrible.

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Permalink Reply by Greg Johnson on March 7, 2009 at 4:28pm

This is wrong in so many ways. I am floored the chief was in on this. So when this Miller guy hits the street again and he will, a legimate alarm comes in and the FD responds and a FF gets his head blown off. Our image is public trust period, this compromises that. I never heard Oh crap the firefighters are here, now I am not so sure. There is already cases of FFs getting shot and this is just asking for more of the same.

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Permalink Reply by Skunk on March 7, 2009 at 5:38pm

I almost Promise you with the attention this is getting the criminal will draw a Glory hound attorney and end up walking on some sort of technicality due to the manner the arrest was performed ..

Peace officers are citizens and must obey the law just like every other citizen and in this somewhere I promise you there is a law at least stretched to the limit if not broken..


The whole ordeal is revolting to me as a Firefighter, I think at times some LEOS picture themselves as above the law just as the occasional FF has a brain fart or takes the position for the Label more than public service aspect..

Hell maybe the Next time a Power line is down or for those of you who still pull meters, Maybe we can go to the Power company and Hijack a Bucket truck and a few uniforms and take a stab at fixing it..

I always wanted to be a Jet pilot maybe I can go to the costume shop get a uniform and check in the local military base to pick up my plane huh?

or as mentioned before on a previous post, We all know every Police car is outfitted with a fire hose and bunker gear in the trunk and that is why police cruisers rush to structure fires, Maybe we can borrow one them snazzy new Dodge chargers to go extinguish our next fire huh?


amazing lol

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