I am wondering what you all thought about a few things.
1) Should Felons be allowed to be Firefighters?
2) Does your fire department hire felons?
3) If you are a firefighter and you are convicted of a felony, should you be fired?
The reason why I bring this up is because I got an email recently about Richmond (VA) Fire Department hiring.
Apparently, they have dropped the requirements for employment:
* Have no felony convictions for any offense within 60 months preceding the date of application;
I cannot speak for the department if this was an actual drop in requirement or if it has always been this way.
I thought that if you were a felon, you were always a felon. The only way to get a felony off your record is to have the Courts expunge it from your record.
DT:
"You" was not YOU.
I'm sure that I have paraphrased some of what you have discussed here, but my last comment was not directed at you. Some of you. In this discussion, some agree with some of my point of view and some agree with some of your point of view. I understand that we are not heroes and we are not saints. But, we ARE held to a higher standard by choice and by our communities. You agree that firefighting should have certain requirements that in the end selects the best candidates?
And you agree that some felonies should disqualify a person from being a firefighter?
Then, we agree "some".
See; we weren't that far off.
:-)
Jay I would bet that when her case goes to court that she is NOT CONVICTED on a felony charge....and therefore would not have a felony on her record.....I have a misdemeanor charge (or had, no longer there) I told a policeman to go __ __ __ __ himself and was charged with disorderly conduct......LOL...I checked and it isn't on my record.....Stuff happens sometimes....Paul
I have written a little bit about this topic on my blog. While I am vacationing up in Connecticut I came across an interesting story that kind of relates to this discussion. Check it out at FireCritic.com. It isn't a felon becoming a firefighter, however it is someone who has a prior record.
Check it out, links and all and let me know what you think.