Fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter has called for a speedy buildup of firemen in Chicago due to increased overtime through April. The overtime represents a $7.3 million increase over the same period last year, a 23 percent increase.
Measures by Commissioner Trotter to quickly address the problem should be applauded, not only because the city is faced with a severe budget crunch this year, but his actions indicate that the fire commissioner appears to be fostering cost saving measures.
Potential fires in Chicago continue to be a growing problem, especially during the cold winter season when poorer homes and apartments rely on space heaters or substitute measures to heat their domiciles. And city inspectors are over burdened with the many complaints they receive each year of property neglect which often leads to the use of substitute measures.
We believe that the city's fire department must be prepared to deal with any and all life threatening or property threatening measures to adequately protect our citizens.
Trotter is also hoping to install hand-held computers which will hasten on-site communications, and he also plans to tighten up on medical leave excuses to foster better attendance.
City officials have been complaining that one of the problems with the high rate of medical leave for firemen is that the age level of new recruits is too high. According to fire department statistics, the average age of new recruits is 36. Moreover, the city has said, layups lead to more overtime.
Overtime continues to be a revolving problem, not only within the fire department but within all city departments.
Commissioner Trotter is calling for a new fire exam, one that abandons the written portion. The recommendation is that candidates who can pass the physical and criminal background check will be put on the list.
While we applaud the city's action for immediate resolution, we must caution Commissioner Trotter and those he reports to that literacy, we believe, is essential in the framework of a fireman's job.
Quick thinking and rational responses in crisis situations are often required by firemen to protect themselves, their fellow fire fighters, saving property and saving the lives of potential fire victims.
Reform may be a better approach...simplifying the exam to target crisis capabilities.
It is also essential that the fire department establish a better system of recruitment to achieve greater diversity within its ranks.
Right now, the fire department has one of the city's poorest ratings for hiring minorities, and while we understand that in the past, efforts were sincerely made to increase those numbers, the written portion of the test was deemed discriminatory to minorities.
We are not at all suggesting that a quota system be put in place, but that the written portion of the exam be simplified and better targeted to performance capabilities, that a fair and honest appraisal be implemented to assure equal access.
Chicago taxpayers expect quick response and professional performance, and they deserve nothing less. But the selection process for new recruits must be monitored more closely to assure equality in the process.
The city has for years prided itself on the professionalism and quick response of its fire department, and city officials should continue to press for nothing less.
But they must also realize that the city and all its departments set the standard of race relations within and outside its boundaries.
Chicago is a great city, but the perceptions of racial isolationism of the past still linger. The fire department now has an opportunity to erase its lingering image of racial exclusion by using this opportunity to equal the playing field for all the city's minorities.
We congratulate Commissioner Trotter, the city's first African American fire commissioner, for his quick and decisive measures. But we also want to caution him that his responsibility to the city's diverse citizenry must also be one of his priorities in moving toward his desired goals.
Article copyright REAL TIMES Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment