problem with a terminated volunteer

I am experiencing a problem with a recently terminated member of my VFD. When he joined he showed up for new member orientation recieved a pager and a key and that was the last time we saw him. We tried to contact him several times before we terminated him but he would not return our phone calls. So here is the problem he will not return our calls but he talked to another member that he is friends with and told this other kid to let us know that he lost his pager. Now this was a brand new in the box Minitor 5 that was issued to him. I have seen different prices for these so I am not sure how much one of these runs brand new but I would imagine it is around $400 or so. My question to you is should we charge him for the lost equipment? What can we do if he refuses to pay for it? has anyone had a similar situation?

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Permalink Reply by Fire Capt. 1304 on August 30, 2009 at 9:58pm

Update: We looked at electronic locks that would record who enters and when but the city council denied letting us spend that kind of money right now (probably since they just spent 4 million dollars on a new city hall building). As far as the pager goes the matter was turned over to the city attorney who sent him a certified letter with a quote for the cost of a new minitor V. To this date we have recieved a partial payment for the pager but have not heard anything from him or received any further payment in several months. As far as sending the police to his house we can not because he lives in the next town over and our officers do not have jurisdiction over there. We talked to the county sheriff but he said he couldnt send a deputy to his house unless they were investigating a crime and losing a pager wasnt a crime just an expensive mistake. so we are at a stand still until the city attorney figures out what he is going to do.

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Permalink Reply by art bowles on August 30, 2009 at 10:17pm

do what i had to do to get gear back.went to the cops

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Permalink Reply by John H. Love on August 30, 2009 at 10:49pm

Get law enforcement involved, you never will know how many keys are now out there, copies are cheap, but the pager is department property and it and the keys need to be returned, if the police handle it the right way, it will be a friendly chat and a word of warning. but the security of you department is now compromised and locks should be changed.

Better to change them now, than to wait and find he had other thoughts about the Fire Department.

Good luck, and I hope it all work out for the best.

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Permalink Reply by Wayne Skidmore on August 30, 2009 at 11:10pm

My department has also ran into this problem . Did your Chief or officers have him sign for the pager with the serial number logged in as part of this document ? We have a limit set forth before your membership becomes in jeopardy , at this point we send our members letters explaining that they should return or return all equipment that was issued to them . If you have had him sign for his pager and he will not pay for it you can contact your local police and have them write up a report on the issue . Does your department have insurance that covers lost equipment ? With a police report you may be able to recover the money through them also . But I agree with Lutan 1 in never giving them a key until they are a full member after probation .

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Permalink Reply by Smoke Eater on August 31, 2009 at 12:01am

Hey FIRE BEAR, first off I can't understand a thing you posted there and second off, you say you are a probie but your profile says you have 15 yrs. What is it?