Amadou Diallo Shooters, Wife Beaters Still Became Firefighters: FDNY Brass

By Steven Thrasher Tue., Aug. 2 2011 at 11:24 AM

More fascinating news from the courtroom of Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis, via The Daily News: the questionable pasts of white candidates were overlooked when they came up for review with the FDNY, a deposition stated yesterday. Even former NYPD cops Richard Murphy and Edward McMellon, who shot Amadou Diallo, were allowed to become firefighters, the News reports.

For months, we've been looking at why the overwhelmingly white FDNY has the the least diverse make up of any agency in New York City (or of any fire department of a major city in America). Although Judge Garaufis ruled the most recent entrance exams to be racially discriminatory, we saw little evidence of this when we looked at the actual exam questions. And yet, as the federal government's lawsuit against the city for failing to diversify the force lumbers into its fourth decade, it's obvious something has been happening to keep the FDNY from creating the same kind of representative force the NYPD has achieved over the past few decades.

A 2008 deposition entered into the record yesterday, from former FDNY assistant personnel commissioner Patricia Kavler, may be the most insightful look yet at how the way the FDNY looks after their co-workers' friends and children may be just why it has stayed so monochromatic.

Calling it "boys being boys," Kavaler described high ranking officers in the fire department vouching for men who had beat their wives. They would vouch for the character of those with problematic pasts, and lobby the board that had the power to overlook such things.

According to another witness, the director of candidate investigations, there was little concern over hiring two cops who had shot, but who had not been convicted of murdering, Amadou Diallo.

It is unclear to us whether beating a woman or the stigma of having killed an unarmed suspect in the line of duty would legally preclude a candidate from becoming a firefighter. But what is clear is this: before it was declared invalid, there was much on the minds of the candidates who aced the last exam as they waited in limbo. One thing was a fear that, during the years they eventually waited, things could happen to make them ineligible. They were afraid that the most minor of entanglements with law enforcement -- even traffic infractions -- could wind up hurting their character and ending their chances of becoming a firefighter. One candidate told us one reason he hated waiting so long to start at the academy because he thought a speeding ticket could end his dreams.

So if the deposition and the testimony are true, it's curious that those connected to the department were able to have major questions overlooked. It would seem to show a pattern where those already on the job helped their friends and family get on the job, a situation that would leave the department with the same make up as it has had for generations.

sthrasher@villagevoice.com | @steven_thrasher

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Hosed: The FDNY's Black Firefighter Problem
The 10 Most Idiotic Questions From FDNY Entrance Exams

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dhoruba

This is a facetious argument for the number of applicants for the FDNY entry who have long "rap sheets" are microscopic while the number of white alcoholics, wife beaters, ex-cops and wanna be cops with limited education and racist sentiments from NYC exurbs are the overwhelming majority of applicants who are accepted. Most Blacks who apply to the FDNY have few if any run in with the "law" and this despite NYPD racial profiling which is aimed at disqualifying Black youth (males) for jobs and qualifying them for the mass incarceration machinery (ditto for legal gun ownership license). Finally the Diallo murder was not just an "intense situation" it was the culmination of a racist expectations tied to legal power to kill and a city that condoned police violence against minorities. No civil servant has such power except cops. The killers of Diallo would still be on the police force were they truly innocent and could walk the streets with respect from the community. As for the misogyny of wife abuse, what institution is more misongynist than the NYPD and FDNY? Having a woman heading a misongynist institution is not equality of gender no more than the England's Thatcher, a woman, changed the complexion of the British imperial war machine.

Jamesmg25@gmail.com

Ok so now let's compare the two white cops who were candidates; who were in an intense situation while on the job to a black candidate who had a rap sheet that was a page long with convictions...right. And the white candidate who (beat his wife) was found not guilty..do your research voice!

Igabc4u

Jim, why should they? It may reveal what you wrote, the truth!

Ddd3

AS someone who witnessed FDNY's Former Director of Personnel, Sherry Ann Kavaler's practices during her reign of terror, she was a leader and played a large role in all hiring practices. FDNY, as far back as 1999 and 2000, was running a scam hiring practice called the FDNY EMS Cadet Program, it was supposed to be a way to recruit minorities into FDNY, through EMS and then a later, "promotion" to Firefighter. This was done to circumvent an actual FF exam and place candidates on the fast track. So, you might ask, who actually got hired? Minorities? Well a few, actually it was a backdoor for children, cousins, nephews and friends of high ranking ranking FDNY Chiefs and FF Union Representatives. Interesting her comment about "Boys being Boys" is minimizing the actual practices of FDNY's leadership and she was a leading proponent of many of FDNY's policies. She clearly introduces revisionist history, compared to actual facts, then again, facts don't really matter to her. They never did.