Firefighter Recruitment and Background Checks

A Guest Blog by LMCIT Field Consultant Troy Walsh

Recruitment

Recruiting firefighters should be an
everyday task.

With the number of firefighters decreasing, and continued services increasing, fire departments are always looking for new firefighters. Many municipalities across the state are looking and actively recruiting firefighters to fill open positions and looking toward the future when our 20-30 years-of-service members retire.

How are you recruiting members? And what are you doing to make sure that you’re getting the best qualified applicants?

Firefighter recruitment is a top
priority.

There are a variety of ways to recruit members, such as social media, newspaper, fliers, banners, or even adding “Now Recruiting Firefighters” magnets to your fire trucks. Part of the message is that you need to recruit every day, on every call, and at every event. Whatever your process is, hopefully you are getting eager applicants that are going to be positive and ready to serve their communities.

Background Checks 
When we think of new firefighters, we budget for their training and to equip them with the proper turnout gear and PPE. We instruct them on the department’s policies and procedures for responding to calls. But how many of you are completing a criminal background check on your new applicants?

Troy Walsh

State Statute 299F.035 requires background checks on every firefighter recruit. When you are recruiting and hiring firefighters it is important to use a formal application process, and don’t forget that prior to hiring there needs to be a background check. Adding background checks to your application process, and having a written application process, will greatly reduce the risk of hiring an individual with a criminal history and opening up the city for liability claims. To read the statute, visit https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=299F.035

Up Next: The New Police Liability Survey

In the meantime, stay safe and be careful.

Troy

Mental Health First Aid

Guest blog by LMCIT Public Safety Specialist Tracy Stille

Would you be able to recognize the signs of someone having a mental or emotional crisis? Would you stop to assist this person, or would you consider behavioral health issues too personal for your intervention? What does depression or a panic attack look like? What would you say to someone who says they are thinking about suicide?

It’s somewhat easy to tell when someone is having a heart attack or is choking—and you may know CPR and the Heimlich maneuver—but can you administer first aid in a mental health crisis?

All of these are good questions when dealing with someone who is suffering a mental or emotional crisis, as one in five Americans has a mental illness—and many are reluctant to seek help, or might not know where to turn for care. As a society, we largely remain ignorant about the signs and symptoms of mental illnesses, and we ignore our role as responsible community members and public safety professionals to help people experiencing these illnesses.

With the goal of making mental health first aid training as familiar as CPR first aid training, half a million people across the country (including me) have taken the new training, “Mental Health First Aid.” Mental Health First Aid is an 8-hour training course that teaches you how to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis.

Tracy Stille

I completed the training and three-year certification this past October at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina. I went into the training with a general knowledge of mental health issues, but I walked away much more informed and aware of these issues that affect many people every day. One clear message that was delivered was that Mental Health First Aid helps first responders gain awareness and is a public education program that can help individuals across the community to understand mental illnesses, support timely intervention, and save lives.

Mental Health First Aid Training

In 2008, the National Council for Behavioral Health brought Mental Health First Aid to community members and business leaders, health and human services staff, police officers, first responders, corrections officers, and other public safety professionals to help them better understand mental illnesses and addictions, and provide them with effective response options to deescalate incidents without compromising safety. If you are interested in having some of your public safety officers (police and fire) attend this training—or perhaps receive training as an instructor—here is the link to their website: http://www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/cs/

If you are interested in the free training currently being offered at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina, MN, contact Tiffany Utke at (612) 706-4566 or tutke1@fairview.org. A waiting list is currently being established for the next training class, which is scheduled for February 22, 2016 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

If you have any questions or comments for me, please reach out to tstille@lmc.org or (651) 215-4051.

                                       Remember:  Responder Safety = Public Safety



Up Next: Firefighter Retention, Recruitment and Background Checks

In the meantime, stay safe and be careful.



Tracy

PATROL DWI Special Bulletin

From time to time, we provide the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust’s PATROL online peace officer training membership with a “Special Bulletin” involving recent case-law decisions immediately impacting law enforcement. Recently, the issues of DWI testing laws and test refusal charges have surfaced. We encourage you to review the following Special Bulletin on this issue (you can also find it in the online PATROL Library):

http://www.lmc.org/media/document/1/specialupdatedwitesting.pdf

This Bulletin includes more information about the U.S. Supreme Court’s review of a breath test refusal case from Minnesota, and the Minnesota Supreme Court’s consideration of a blood test refusal decision from the Minnesota Court of Appeals. These reviews are pending, which means we're in an environment of legal uncertainty, but we've provided some general practice tips for dealing with the many unknowns.

As always, we urge you to talk with your prosecutors about what you should be doing in your own jurisdiction.

Up next: Mental Health First Aid

In the meantime, stay safe and be careful.

Rob