Firefighters Being Asked To SPY On Americans

[kpete]

AP IMPACT: Firefighter help on terrorism
By EILEEN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 23, 5:18 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Firefighters in major cities are being trained to take on a new role as lookouts for terrorism, raising concerns of eroding their standing as American icons and infringing on people's privacy.

Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel don't need warrants to access hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, putting them in a position to spot behavior that could indicate terrorist activity or planning.

But there are fears that they could lose the faith of a skeptical public by becoming the eyes of the government, looking for suspicious items such as building blueprints or bomb-making manuals or materials.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Americans have given up some of their privacy rights in an effort to prevent future strikes. The government monitors phone calls and e-mails; people who fly have their belongings searched before boarding and are limited in what they can carry; and some people have trouble traveling because their names are similar to those on terrorist watch lists.

more at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071123/ap_on_re_us/firefighters_terrorism

[iamjoy]

1. Concerning On Many Levels

I see nothing wrong with asking people to be observant - indeed that has thwarted terrorist attacks in the past and had the right people listened would have averted 9-11.

But, this may go too far. If some one has a medical emergency and calls the paramedics, I think the responders should focus on saving that life, not staring suspiciously at something in the house which is perfectly innocent at least 99% of the time.

It's stupid anyway because I would think if a firefighter or EMT happened to see something suspicious they would report it. I mean, DUH!

[Greylyn58]

3. Totally agree with your comment

This is just wrong and may do more harm then good. If the general public feel that they are being spied on by the very people sent to help them they may hold back on calling firemen for help.

[izzie]

2. Having lived in a small town I was happy the fire dept knew some thing

about me. In a storm they came and helped people and knew about the older people so they could get them food and heat. I hate to see it used as a spy thing for the govt. The vol. fire dept. started with the older people and sick and worked down the list. The local small city, right now, is trying to figure a way to help people who live alone. A poor women was found, after to many days, who had died with out heat, in her home. This may drive people away from a service needed.

[susanr516]

Reincarnation of TIP program?

A few years back, the government was pushing to get postal carriers and employees of utility companies to spy for them. They even proposed putting cute little decals on the company vehicles.

My husband is a phone co. repairman. He works in some neighborhoods with a high level of gang and drug activity. His job is to fix the line, not to report drug dealers. Do your job, don't look around too much, and get out of there. He said there would be some neighborhoods that he would be afraid to enter if one of those decals were slapped on his truck. Fortunately, the US Postal Service refused to participate, which killed the plan the first time around.

[susanr516]

4. Dupe n/t

[mvccd1000]

5. Maybe I'm an optimist, but...

... it seems like this is mostly just to give them a standard method to report something they see.

If you were in someone's house because of your work and you saw something that made you really wonder, would you know who to ask/tell about it? I wouldn't. I'd probably call the local police, but what can they do?

Having some standard training to recognize which things should be reported and to whom they should be reported makes sense to me.

It probably seemed intrusive when doctors were first told to start reporting suspicious injuries to children, too, but I'd bet most of us are glad they do so.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. About 25 years ago, they were signed up for the war on drugs

and trained to look for drugs and paraphernalia when they went into a house. So this is nothing new.

[Echo In Light]

7. This ruse is a joke

Dig this:
"Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel don't need warrants to access hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, putting them in a position to spot behavior that could indicate terrorist activity or planning."

Again, a fucking joke. Not one 'Al CIAda' cell has been rooted out domestically in several years by any of the blatantly anti-democratic measures foisted upon an apathetic, dis-informed public ... because that's not what said measures have been implemented for.

Give these jokers this level of Big Brother snooping and all they'll do is be petty informants against those whose political and ideological views they don't understand or agree with - due to the prevailing propaganda - and narc on harmless artistic types and casual drug users ... which is exactly, precisely why such snooping measures would be put into place to begin with.

[Ezlivin]

8. Another attempt at subverting or circumventing Constitutional rights

It seems the tack is to have non-governmental agencies and private firms do the dirty work, thus freeing the government from "violating" our Constitutional rights.

Once you start this sort of stuff people rapidly grow wary of each other. Eventually the fragile trust we had in each other frays and we become increasingly, frantically selfish.

They are pushing this society into a state of dog-eat-dog. Meanwhile the coifed elite go on with their pampered lives, largely free from the fear to which they've subjected us.