Advice

[EgressOne]

In a very condensed short story......

I belong to a part-time/POC department, two members of the department are(were) a married couple. Things turned for the worse for them in the marital department. The female cheated on her husband, he caught wind of it. She's a chronic liar and has majority of the department believing her side of the story. The females full time employment is an RN in the ER. She has came home with prescription pill bottles with names scratched off and empty syringes. When he confronted her about those items, she said that she took them away from a "friend" who tried OD'ing, in addition that same day she even "drove to my fire department to grab Narcan and Saline to flush the drugs out of her "friends" system."

Now obviously if her part of the story was legit she wouldn't have had permission to be a "hero" and grab the Narcan and Saline. Where my dilemma is...I was relayed this information from a close friend who went to the husbands house after the break up to help console him. I can't confront the female herself, knowing her history of lying. The husband is so distraught he has since resigned from the department and it is unknown if he will come forward to the Chief because that is his wife whom he still has feelings for.

After catching wind of this whole ordeal I wish i was never told any of it, but now I just can't help to wonder constantly if either 1) Does she have a problem with narcotics? 2) Do I want to be employed with someone whom uses narcotics? 3) Did she really steal from our employer? 4) Can I trust someone who really didn't steal, but lied about stealing stuff.

Help.....

[fire49]

Is this in Chicago??? and part of a tv show??

if she works for your dept, sounds like the chief should be involved

also, may want to do a call to the director of nursing, and give that person a heads up, to see if they want to investigate

[CdnFD24]

Sounds like you got caught in the middle of a mess. It's important to remember that there are two sides to every story.

Also remember that 3rd hand information almost always has inaccuracies.

Given the circumstance, if some of the information is accurate there is a potential for risk or hazard to safety of department members and/or members of the public/community you protect.

There may be some backlash for being involved but if I were in your shoes, I'd advise the higher ups and then leave myself out of the rest if possible. Let them handle it from there.

In my opinion it would be negligent to not advise an officer of the information you received.

[CaptOldTimer]

Nothing like posting the fd's dirty laundry on a forum.

[EgressOne]

Fire49- That's exactly what I thought, lol.

It is quite the mess to get involved in, unintentionally. I guess that's just the nature of a small department, everyone finds out everyone's business sooner or later? Part of the trouble I'm having is I know there are 2 sides to a story and I was neither directly involved in any of it but I feel an obligation, even if it is "hear-say", to protect the integrity of the department even if it is a false claim. Wouldn't it be negligent of me just to push it under the rug as if nothing happened?

The husband that actually resigned was an officer and when he handed in his resignation to the Chief, the Chief was shocked and had asked why, the officer advised him that his wife was having affairs and was a "home-wrecker" (they had 3 kids) and that the Chief should keep a closer eyes on his members. So I would assume that some type of investigation might be happening?

Capt-Yeah it's not the best place but I figured an open public forum of fellow "brothers" would be able to help dish out some advice. Every department has dirty laundry so it's not a big secret.

[BSFD9302]

If this is a real situation...........I will say straight up something doesn't seem right with this thread.

***Edited out, because on second thought I will stick with the post above*****

[Bones42]

Pass all you know on to the Chief and let the proper people sort it out. Unless you are the chief, or 1 of the 2 in the couple...you are not the proper people.