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Should Sex Offenders Be Firefighters? What about Pardoned ones?
This topic was first posted on FireCritic.com here: http://firecritic.com/2010/11/should-sex-offenders-be-firefighters-...
Can Sex Offenders be firefighters? Should sex offenders be firefighters? What about pardoned ones?
I am currently working on a story and one of the intriguing details is that a current firefighter WAS a convicted sex offender. The person was pardoned and is not a
registered sex offender. The offense was bad (they all are). The offense
happened 30 years ago prior to the current laws that protect us from
these criminals. Should he be allowed to be a firefighter?
Here are my thoughts. Sex offenders should not be firefighters. I do not know of a National standard or regulation on this issue. However, if
this man was pardoned and the infraction occurred prior to current
regulations should he/she still be punished for a crime they was
pardoned for? After all, they were pardoned and basically the crime is
no longer part of their wrap sheet (hopefully there is nothing else).
This is basically a loophole due to previously lackadaisical laws.
I just wonder if fire departments can legally disqualify someone from being a firefighter for something that might not show up on their
background check. I am not sure it would in this case, but what if
someone brought it to the FD’s attention.
The questions are:
- Should sex offenders be allowed to be firefighters? What about EMT’s?
- Should previously pardoned sex offenders be allowed to be firefighters?
- What about EMT’s?
- Does your department look for this information in their background checks?
Here are some articles I found on the topic of sex offender/firefighters:
- Volunteer Firefighter a Registered Sex Offender
- Fired firefighter admits to soliciting sex from teen boys via Faceb...
NSOPR – National Sex Offender Public Registry
FBI Sex Offender Registry
You might remember a while back that I posted a question on Firefighter Nation about Felons being firefighters. That discussion continues to spark interest from time to time and the
conversation is rehashed. My answer remains to be NO. Several people
said that it depended on the crime. My reply….Name a GOOD Felony! I
didn’t think so. Felonies are felonies for a reason. They are crimes.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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Brian, yes I have children. If you go back to my previous posting, I asked at what stage does someone stop being treated a criminal. Remove the emotion out of the discussion (ie: kids and sex offenders) and change his/her conviction to any other- are they capable of turning their lives around is all I'm asking??? Remember the article says it all happened 30 years ago. I'm gonna assume that he hasn't been accused or convicted of anything since???
An intersting point in the article aside to my questions- the members knew about his conviction and voted for him to remain a member. From the article: So the entire membership voted on whether or not O’Neal was allowed back with the department. The vote passed allowing O’Neal to come back.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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My apologies, I missed that part.
In my opinion, if they've served their time and paid their debt to society, then by all means they deserve the right to be given the chance to turn their life around. Also (my opinion), they should not be placed in a position where they'll be tempted to go back to their old ways; ie. A thief dealing with money or people's credit card info.
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Don't apolagise- I'm torn on this. I'm a firm beleiver in giving people a chance to prove themselves, however it is hard to not think about my kids in this situation. It's a fascinating debate me thinks....
We also need to be mindful that there could be literally heaps of people already in FD's all over the world who are guilty of similar things- the difference being that perhaps they haven't been caught yet....
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A couple of months ago the local news did a spot on a woman who was molested when she was 13 years old (she's 36 now). The man who did it has already served his time in prison, but because the law did not require sex offenders to register with the Police back then, he is not listed in the sex offender registry! They tracked him down and asked him if he would voluntarily register and he (of course) said NO. There are thousands of these people in the U.S. alone. Scary if you ask me.
I do believe that some people deserve a second chance, or to prove themselves, but not at the risk of the general public.
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I do believe that some people deserve a second chance, or to prove themselves, but not at the risk of the general public.
And that there is the challenge. How do they do it? I don't know....
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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I streaked a flower show once, and got an award... for having the best dried arrangement.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on
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Hey Lutan...sure one can change....and probably do a great job somewhere else...what I am saying (and this is only me) is that if you are a convicted felon then you don't belong in the Fire service...Hey I admit it, we are NOT saints by any means...but felony is going way beyond a simple mistake.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Armstrong on
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Not that most of us do the hiring/firing part of the job but like it has been said in here if the chief gets the police clearance on the individual and it states that he is a sex offender and he is automatically thrown in the garbage can.Now if a police clearance said in detail that this individual has a sex offender title cause he was on a major highway 20 miles from a rest area and needed to take a leak and MR. police officer drove by as he's in mid stream and BAMM now he can never be a Firefighter or EMT or a cop or anything worth while. FAIR????
Or what if buddy wakes up to his wife smakin their two year old around for dumping out the toy box and making a mess and he grabs a hold of her and pushes her away and she calls the cops and he is charged with assulting his wife.FAIR??? The police clearance is only going to state Assult or domestic violence.Throw him away?
The 18 yr old goes out with the 17 yr old but catches the other messin around or hears a rumor of it and she turns evil and now he's charged with stat rape and screwed for life by someone who loved him 2 weeks ago but heard a rumor? FAIR??
It is based on a specific case by case basis but without details available they are just not givin a chance and will never get the chance to prove themselves because they were made a Victim themselves "victim of circumstance" If your flat out caught for rape,diddling little kids,murder in the first something with the seriousness that requires a judge and jury and witnesses saying yes without a resonable doubt you did it then by all means now way but there are several people who have lost their livelyhoods or the chance of one for being categorized as the guy who raped or assulted his wife or is a sex offender for taking a leak on the side of the highway.
It's a pretty vague question and one that needs to be examined definatly but by some higher authorities to protect the innocent that from a little incident that has huge ramifications simply by being lumped into a more severe set of offenders.
Just my two cents but may not mean anything due to the emotional limit of this thread.
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#1 taking a leak along a highway is NOT a felony it is a misdemeanor..."public urination"....You are more than welcome to have him/her (yes females can be child molesters too) in your Department.....BUT, he won't get into mine....
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Permalink Reply by Gregory Borg on
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First, life is not FAIR. Second, NO convicted sex offenders in the fire service, no exceptions. Get a job with someone else for their second chance.
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Permalink Reply by Sandi George on
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There is a long history of pardons from super conservatives.
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I don't want a child molester on my department either but what a few have been trying to say is that a sex offender may have got a bad rap due to the situation and there are several ways a guy can get screwed with a criminal record from a girlfriend/wife that wanted to get back at them and screamed rape when it was actually consentuall and many cases have sided with the female cause there aren't many couples who have witnesses in the bedroom or a husband that video tapes them in bed so he can play it back in court to get out of a charge.If you feel that this is fair Paul then I would hope that you never get in this situation or do I so I can read your "do you guys think this is fair" post.
The situation about the guy getting charged for beating his wife for grabbing her off his 2 yr old is actually true so do you think that was fair that he got a criminal record and labelled a wife beater and may not have been able to be a firefighter had he not had so much time pass without getting in any trouble not even a seatbelt fine or do you feel he should not represent FF's because he has a record? just wonderin your answer.
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