SOME CHARGED, CONVICTED MACON-BIBB FIREFIGHTERS STILL ON JOBMacon Telegraph
By Amy Leigh Womack
Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011
[Excerpts] In the past two years, a Macon-Bibb County firefighter has pleaded guilty twice to striking his child’s mother in the face, causing bruising and swelling. The first time, 25-year-old Vonriquez Maketta Durham agreed to enter a domestic violence counseling program, and the charges subsequently were dismissed, according to Bibb County State Court records. In September 2011, after the second charge, he was sentenced to a year on probation. Within a month of his sentencing, Durham was jailed for nearly two weeks on new family violence charges that later were dismissed, according to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office. When The Telegraph reviewed Durham’s personnel file Wednesday, however, it didn’t include a disciplinary notice on any of the family violence charges - or a reprimand for his not showing up for work. A Telegraph inspection of police reports, court records and firefighter personnel records showed that Durham isn’t the only firefighter who’s been charged with a crime -- or convicted -- and is still on the job... [Full article here]
This is a good article. It discusses the policy (versus practice?) of the Macon-Bibb County Fire Department, the past gun conviction and prehire dismissed murder and domestic violence charges against Macon-Bibb firefighter Ralphel Ramone Adams - who appears to have agreed to be "voluntarily terminated" after MISSING WORK too many days - and how nothing showed up in his file. Also how firefighter Julian Gainey's DUI shows up in his record but not his episodes of domestic violence charges, one current and a formerly dismissed domestic violence case that was dismissed due to the "missing witness".
[firefighter involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety repeat hx teflon georgia state politics fire department emt fire chief Marvin Riggins]
ABOUT POLICY:
ReplyDelete....While some firefighters’ files showed that they’d been disciplined after being charged with crimes, other files contained no reference at all to alleged offenses. A sampling of those firefighters’ files showed that the majority still are at work... [Fire Chief Marvin] Riggins declined to field questions about disciplinary practices and the records inspected by The Telegraph... The city doesn’t have a system in place to keep tabs on whether firefighters are charged with a crime after they’ve been hired, Ben Hubbard, Macon’s human resources director, said... It’s the responsibility of city employees who are “arrested, bound over to a grand jury, charged by accusation or indicted for any criminal offense” to report the information to their department head within five days, according to a copy of employee conduct and discipline guidelines... Department heads, in turn, are required to report any criminal charges to the mayor and chief administrative officer. If the crime is a felony or a “serious misdemeanor,” the department head and director of personnel must consult with the city attorney to determine the “appropriate status” of the employee while the criminal charges are pending, according to the guidelines. If the city or fire department is aware that a firefighter has been charged with a crime or convicted, discretion is used to determine whether the firefighter is reprimanded... If the conduct doesn’t directly relate to the employee’s work duties but is “of a serious and aggravated nature” that interferes with the employer-employee relationship or embarrass the city, the employee can be suspended while the charges are pending... In The Telegraph’s review of several personnel files for firefighters with arrests on record, some files had no documentation regarding any arrest. In others, some charges were reflected in reprimands, while there was no mention of other arrests...