Seattle chief fails to answer questions on failed policy om firefighter alcohol arrests
According to reporter Linzi Sheldon, Seattle Fire Chief Gregory Dean has been avoiding her questions for five months about firefighters with multiple alcohol arrests who were allowed to drive fire apparatus. The reporter finally got Chief Dean to stand still for an interview this week, but Sheldon says that’s only after she got some help from the mayor.
Still, Chief Dean, who last month announced his retirement at the end of the year, didn’t provide much insight into how the department either didn’t know or didn’t act on these cases. The chief also wouldn’t answer why he has been avoiding the reporter.
Would it be so bad if instead of avoiding the reporter for so long and then only providing non-answers when he does talk, Chief Dean had just said something like this instead? “We screwed up. We are changing our policy to fix the problem. It’s my job now to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Let’s hope the next Seattle fire chief doesn’t use Chief Dean’s performance as an example on handling bad news. If you want to see a real life example of how this should have been dealt with from the start, just go to this story about the former Detroit Interim Fire Commissioner Jonathan Jackson when he was confronted on almost the very same situation in his department.
“Chief it looks like the policy is failing. Would you agree?” KIRO 7 asked Dean.
“What I would say is this: the department has a policy,” he said. “You have an example where … someone fell through the cracks on the policy.”
He refused KIRO 7’s interview requests multiple times over the span of five months, even refusing to answer emails inquiring “why” he refused to talk about such an important public safety issue. KIRO 7 finally reached out to the Office of Mayor Ed Murray, which arranged an interview.
“Chief, why did it take five months, multiple interview requests, and ultimately the intervention of the Mayor’s office for you to talk with us today?” KIRO 7 asked.
“Again– I think that I’m here today,” Dean said, citing the information the department provided through public records requests as enough information.
