Omaha Court Halts Fundraising While Working

OMAHA, Neb. - The Omaha City Attorney's office has issued a new ruling saying city firefighters can't legally participate in roadside collections for charities on city time.

The so-called "boot drives" have been up for discussion in recent weeks.

Last month, the Omaha City Council paved the way for such collections by firefighters, but required charitable organizations to have liability insurance.

Monday's ruling doesn't entirely bar firefighters from collecting donations, but says they must do it on their own time and can't use city equipment.

The city attorney's office also said a similar ruling was made in 2003. Officials say that was when the fire union attempted to revise its contract with the city to allow firefighters to solicit for charities while on duty.

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Information from: KFAB-AM, http://www.kfab.com

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No Firefighter Collections While On The Clock

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Permalink Reply by Robert Craig (Chappy) on October 7, 2009 at 10:21am

Sounds to me like another move to stop whats good, so whats evil can prevail.
Chappy

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Permalink Reply by Nathan on October 7, 2009 at 4:45pm

This is BS! As long as the firefighters are still able to respond to calls rapidly and safely, there should be absolutely no problem. Just goes to show that we cant do good in this world anymore without fear of having desk jockey politions getting in the way!

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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on October 7, 2009 at 7:17pm

lol What does evil have to do with this?

To me the logic is unassailable: Firefighters are On Duty, they have certain responsibilities such as training, PT, pre-plans, equipment maintenance, fire prevention and, um....oh yeah, fireman's stuff. In other words, they are working, on the municipal clock.

Why should they be allowed to spend city time and equipment collecting for a non-profit? It's not fire department related in any way other than a publicity stunt. Moreover, if they are/were collecting, why not for something relevant like a Childrens Burn Unit or similar?

I've never seen the PD collecting for a charity while on shift. In fact they've done a couple of fundraisers for charity, all off-duty cops. What...firefighters are special?