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Should Felons be allowed to be Firefighters?
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 got the information here
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.
What do you all think?
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 got the information here
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.
What do you all think?
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by eric nelson on
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Not at all Art, I appreciate all of your advice and I also appreciate you taking the time to respond! Thanks again Art and to all of you guys who gave me advice. I may actually try contacting an attorney to see if they will redcuce the charge..... I know its been 22 years , but I'm tired of having this thing on my record epecially under the circumstances.... Darn over jealous prosecutor... It's amazing after all of these years this thing still bothers me so much... Thanks again guys.
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Permalink Reply by Loyd Dittfurth on
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sorry didnt read that
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Permalink Reply by james on
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i think people change and deserve a second chance.maybe if people who made poor decisions would make better ones if they was part of a positive brotherhood.and honestly u think a car wreck victim or even me would care if a person is a felon?
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Permalink Reply by Cindy Loo on
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The company I work with will not hire Felons. Felons should never be allowed to work as fire fighters. There are consequences for people actions and using the excuse they were real young at the time is not an excuse. I was a teenager and managed to get though my life without racking up prison time. It was a choice they made and if we keep making things easier then where is the deterrent on committing crimes.
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Permalink Reply by Louis A. Coletti on
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Just to quote Florida Law"states under statute 633.34 no one can become a firefighter if you have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. I feel that that is a very fair law based on the fact that you are exposed to many situations (peoples homes, children, EMS calls) . Once convicted of a felony it takes the court system to give you your rights back and I think you have to wait 5yrs once released from prison to appeal to the courts to have your rights restored
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Permalink Reply by Raymond Herington on
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I cannot hire a ff with a felony. My dept. S.O.G.s state that you cannot have a felony to apply. Then you have Township S.O.G.s that state the same. We just went through it last year. A married couple from area applied to dept. Both were on neighboring dept. They allowed him on with felony. They moved here and applied to my dept. We turned him down as well as the Township, but hired her.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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NOPE.....enough said
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If you lied to get your job to clear the background checks...are you aware that that can be (depending on your State)...another felony....or at the very least a misdeamer for filing a false statement.......
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Chief....I am now employed with the State of NY Dept of Corrections in the medical Dept.....We have 867 Inmates and they have all been "wrongly convicted" I have never heard even one of them admit that they ever comitted a crime.....not one....and they are all in for FELONIES. Would I want one of these highly moral people in my Department...serving my community or even depending on them to be my partner....? Not a chance in hell.....Just my look at it....I didn't do anything wrong it isn't my problem that you have to pay for your mistakes......Paul
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Permalink Reply by Gregory Borg on
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I say no to hiring felons, our department did and he killed 3 people in a DUI accident 15 years after he killed the first person and received his felony conviction. I say if you are convicted of a felony you should be fired. There are plenty of people that seem to be able to stay out of jail to fill our ranks. The felons all have an excuse and Jesus in their back pockets. Keep them out of the firehouse.
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Voges on
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Well Paul, it is very easy to find out if someone owns a fire arm, and just as easy to through it away. I don't think he was saying that you should be fired if you were wrongly accused of a crime.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Paul didn't attack anyone, Damon, he just voiced his opinion.
He advocates maintining high standards as a condition of participating in the fire service.
If that means that we have a smaller, higher-quality candidate pool, that is to the benefit of those who have to screen, hire, and troubleshoot bad behavior from candidates and firefighters.
And...actually, there is an increase in people who want to become a career firefighter. The departments in my area have seen an approximate 100% increase in firefighter applications and those who make the hire lists in the past two years or so.
None of those departments will hire anyone with a felony - no matter how minor the crime or how long ago.
There are simply too many people who don't have felony records who apply and who make the hire lists for the departments to take the risk on someone with a felony conviction.
One of the key elements in being a firefighter is public trust. If we're going to be in people's homes at 03:00 checking on their wife or daughter, if we're going to be salvaging their valuables after a house fire, or if we're going to be removing their jewelry when they're a trauma patient, the least that they can expect is that we don't hire felons. -
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