Copyright 2006 Spokesman-Review
Spokesman-Review (Washington)
Distributed by Knight/Ridder Tribune News Service
By The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.)
SPOKANE, Wash. — Police officers and firefighters enjoy the public’s warm admiration, and they deserve it. They risk their lives to protect the rest of us. Their uniforms stand not only for authority but also for dedication and sacrifice.
In return for their well-earned public acclaim ∓ not to mention their handsome pay and benefit packages ∓ uniformed public safety workers should honor their special place in the community’s heart by upholding the highest standards of personal and professional conduct. In that regard, Spokane residents have a right to feel let down in two recent incidents.
--A $63,000-a-year Spokane firefighter used Fire Station No. 17 in northwest Spokane for a tryst with a teenage girl he met over an Internet site that he accessed repeatedly on a city-owned computer. Police who investigated decided there was no criminal case, even though 35-year-old Daniel Ross photographed the activity. Ross said he didn’t know the girl was under 18. End of investigation ∓ at least until public clamor grew loud enough to get authorities’ attention.
--An audit showed that American Medical Response, the $1 billion-a-year company that provides ambulance service under a contract with the Spokane Fire Department, has overbilled patients and insurance companies by $320,689 since January 2003. Somehow it went unnoticed all that time by Fire Department officials who administered the contract. Some members of the Fire Department have suggested fraud is involved, and Fire Chief Bobby Williams has come in for personal criticism.
A total of 881 residents and an untold number of insurance claims were overbilled, according to the audit, which was paid for by AMR and covered about 19,000 billings. Some of them involved firefighters’ families. The situation produced an FBI investigation and possibly one for Medicare, plus a class action lawsuit. Although ambulance service, by contract, was supposed to cost less for patients accompanied by city firefighters, AMR always charged at a more expensive rate.
It should not have taken until Tuesday for these troubling facts to be bared to the Spokane City Council.
Whatever wrongdoing or ineptitude may ultimately be revealed by these incidents, esteem for firefighters and police officers in general should not suffer because of the failings of a few individuals.
But the residents of Spokane are owed clear answers for these betrayals of trust, and it falls to the city’s political leadership to see that the questions are answered fully and frankly. That means, among other things, launching rigorous, independent investigations, especially in the case of the ambulance contract where a worrisome pattern persisted for three years under the noses of top Fire Department officials.
For the sake of credibility, those investigations must be put in the hands of people and agencies outside of Spokane city government. And when facts are known, the strictest accountability needs to be imposed.
As an aside, it’s worth noting that situations like these demonstrate the value of fresh perspectives in the leadership of these departments. Mayor Dennis Hession can address that need by focusing his current search for a new police chief on outside candidates who won’t be conflicted by ties to the patterns and personalities that have evolved over the years.
In the meantime, no one has a keener interest in seeing this situation resolved than those who proudly wear the uniforms that have been besmirched.