Tucson Fire Department Chief Jim Critchley responded to questions from the Star in an email.
Q: How does the department handle complaints from employees about other employees’ behavior?
A: Employees are encouraged to bring complaints to their supervisor first so the supervisor can assess the complaint and make adjustments if necessary. If the employee is not satisfied, they can forward the complaint up through the chain of command to the fire chief if necessary. Depending on the nature of the complaint, the employee can contact the city’s office of Equal Opportunity Programs Division and bypass the department. In addition to the city process, depending on the nature of the complaint, the employee can file a federal EEO complaint. This information is presented to the employee during orientation.
Q: How has that changed since the Maliniak case?
A: The process for handling complaints has not changed.
Q: How is your zero-tolerance policy enforced?
A: The city of Tucson and the fire department have policies regarding behavior, as well as discipline, if policies are violated. Employees and supervisors are expected to follow these policies.
Q: Poor behavior can lead to lawsuits that are expensive for taxpayers. What is the department doing to prevent behavior incidents?
A: Educating employees on expectations and enforcement of department and city policies if there are violations.
Q: What percentage of TFD firefighters are women?
A: There are 597 commissioned firefighters currently working with the department. There are 32 women in this employee group (5 percent).
Q: Is it a goal of yours to increase that number?
A: The department’s goal is to increase the number of successful recruits for underrepresented demographic areas. This includes women and African-Americans. In order to graduate an increasing number of people representing these groups, we must increase the number of them who take the entrance test.
Q: What steps are being taken?
A: The department intends to test for the position of firefighter in the spring of 2016. The department has already dedicated a uniformed employee to be the department’s recruitment officer. The recruitment officer has identified men and women from the department to assist him in reaching out to the community about our upcoming test. The emphasis is to increase the diversity of the department. To do that, we must increase our outreach and increase the number of women and other minorities who choose to take the entrance test.
