Posted on 01/10/2007 5:48:25 AM PST by Jonx6
Police investigating incident at North Austin station.
Authorities are investigating an incident in which a recently promoted Austin firefighter found human excrement smeared on her locker at a Duval Road fire station.
Firefighter Rebecca Farris discovered the waste when she showed up to work Dec. 21, about four months after being promoted to drive the fire engine at Station 25 in Northwest Austin, fire officials said Tuesday. Officials said she also found urine in a shampoo bottle.
Assistant City Manager Mike McDonald said police investigators might require the 15 firefighters assigned to the station to provide DNA and fingerprint samples to determine who was responsible. He said criminal charges are possible.
"We're going to do everything we can to the fullest extent of the law and everything we can administratively to get to the bottom of it," McDonald said.
Farris, who joined the department in 1993, declined to comment.
Stephen Truesdell, president of the Austin Firefighters Association, said that the incident was sad and unfortunate and that he hoped it would be resolved quickly.
"Our members should be able to enjoy a harassment-free workplace," Truesdell said.
The incident raises new questions about the acceptance of women and minorities into a profession that in Austin has historically drawn white males.
Women make up about 4 percent of firefighters in the Austin Fire Department. Farris is the lone woman at Station 25.
In 2005, city officials made diversity a focus of contract negotiations with the firefighters union and attracted a current cadet class that is 17 percent female.
The working environment has improved over the years, but problems still exist, said Jan Wesson, past president of the Austin Women Firefighters.
The problems are exacerbated by the department's lack of a strong policy to prevent discrimination and hostility in the workplace, said Wesson, who has almost 23 years of experience. She was not speaking for the organization, whose current leaders declined to comment.
Firefighters who have learned about the incident have been appalled, Wesson said, and the perpetrators are the exception.
McDonald said, "This is a sick act by one or two individuals and is certainly not something that takes place in the culture of this organization."
Fire Department spokeswoman Michelle DeCrane said that supervisors alerted Chief J.J. Adame about the incident the day it happened and that he immediately began an investigation.
Officers in the department's professional standards unit initially investigated and gave their findings to Austin police.
Austin police said they could not comment on an ongoing investigation.
"The Austin Fire Department prides itself on creating a culture of freedom and personal responsibility," Adame said in a statement. "Those in the department who go against that philosophy are not only a personal disappointment to me but to every citizen who entrusts us with their lives, their property and their tax dollars.
"The bottom line is that we won't and don't put up with this sort of behavior."
Having known a few firefighters, I would not be surprised if this was standard practice for people who got promoted.
They pulled some crazy sh1t on each other all the time.
I used to work in a job that was owned by a firefighter and he had a lot of them coming in part time on their off hours. They did a lot of drinking, and a lot of crazy stuff.
Sounds like somebody is in need of diversity re-education........
I hope they PLEASE get DNA! This incident can be easily traced. I would look forward to these guys being assigned to clean the facility with their toothbrushes, for 6 months.
In fact, the jocks who did this har har are so stupid-nasty they shouldn't be sucking up valuable oxygen among us much less being rescue heroes.
Calling FOXCBSNBCABC News!
YEP! It's a "hate crime"!!~/sarc. It happened to a female, in a place filled with white guys. Whoever did this will be punished more severely than any Middle Eastern terrorist.
Ick. Pretty juvenile stuff. That DNA evidence can be a two edged sword though. They better also test the accuser. Just in case.
I look at these kinds of "incidents" with skepticism since that teacher (CA?) faked her harrassments, claiming she was targeted for being black and a woman. Now I look to the individual in question and wonder if she may be an "activist".......
"We're going to do everything we can to the fullest extent of the law and everything we can administratively to get to the bottom of it," McDonald said.
Some things write themselves.
It could be a fake. She may have done it herself.........It has happened before........
DNA trace will show who plays with their poop.
It's pretty gross to smear sh!t on somebody's locker or piss in their shampoo. Sounds like something I'd expect from 13-year old twerps.
I don't have a problem with them figuring out who did it (via DNA for example), but the remedy shouldn't be some damn civil rights suit.
How about just make the perps eat a bowlful of worms and boogers in front of the rest of the crew? They like gross stuff, so that seems about right to me... (only half joking)
But not who plays with someone elses.........
Not very smart! The person who did it should come forward and save the rest of his or her (...although it is probably a dude because no self-respecting female would smear crap on anything...) team the time and humiliation.
FearFactor Punishment?........
That's the best reason I can think of to do the DNA test. I don't like what happened, but I would like it even less if it was self-perpetrated.
If it turns out she did it, make HER eat the bowlful of worms and boogers. (See #13)
Just.... EEWW-WWW-WWWW!
The test will tell them immediately whether it was a man or a woman.
in a place filled with white guys
any guy, white or not, who does this type of thing, needs to be punished -it is a wonder that people who are charged with saving lives could be so disgusting and immature
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