Fire marshal has been driving city vehicle for years without a license
Last (Wednesday) night at 11:00 pm WXYZ-TV in Detroit featured this story on the fire marshal of Highland Park, Jerome Brown. According to reporter Heather Catallo, Brown has been driving his city vehicle without a driver’s license for as long as he’s had the job of fire marshal.
According to the story, Jerome Brown took that post in 2012 after being seriously injured in a fire in 2011. Catallo says Brown hasn’t been able to legally drive since 2010. The reporter also questioned exactly what it is Brown does in his $10 per hour job as fire marshal for the financially strapped city.
Firefighters without valid licenses is an issue many departments across the country have been dealing with. Last year in adjacent Detroit, the fire department promoted a battalion chief only to learn from the same TV station that the chief also hasn’t had a valid license since 2010 (click here for that story).
The issue is prompting some departments to be more proactive about checking on the driving status of its firefighters.
The 49-year-old has two drunk driving arrests out of Virginia from 1987 and 1990. Here in Michigan, state records show he drove while impaired in 1992 and he got charged with a felony for drunk driving once again in 1993. Brown later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, which forced him into a license suspension.
From there, Brown has a series of license suspensions and other driving offenses, including five suspensions from 2009 – the year he was hired as a firefighter in Highland Park.
The final license suspension listed in his record was in 2010, which means he hasn’t had a valid license for years.
“You have repeatedly driven with a suspended or expired license, you have a lot of violations for that,” said Catallo.
