One Firefighter Tarnishes All - Even In Coventry

Some professions are so noble it’s taboo to question those who perform them — or imply dishonorable behavior among the ranks.

But I can’t hold back. I have something to say about the way some firefighters take advantage of the system.

Because it’s happened again, this time in North Providence.

Channel 12 did an exposé on a retired firefighter from there named Stephen J. Campbell. Let me pause on the phrase, “retired firefighter.” I’ll bet you reacted with the same taboo thought that I did:

“Retired firefighter? Yeah, right — bet he retired after short service. From questionable injuries.”

Campbell apparently did. The man’s getting what it seems many firefighters get: a tax-free “disability” pension. It’s sad to have to put quote marks around the word “disability” but cases such as the “disabled” Providence firefighter videotaped in a gym lifting weights make you a bit jaded.

The details of how Stephen Campbell handled his short firefighting career will make you more jaded.

The average age of a new North Providence firefighter is 25, but Campbell was hired in 2003 at more than double that: 52. Curious, since everyone knows how competitive the job is. You wonder if it had anything to do with his being pals with Ralph Mollis, our secretary of state who was North Providence mayor at the time. Don’t you love Rhode Island coincidences?

You’d think Stephen Campbell, 52-year-old rookie, would do his best to be worthy of so amazing a job opportunity — especially since he was previously a baker and mattress salesman. You’d think he would show up diligently and perform.

Hardly.

You may be thinking: “Let me guess — he got some questionable injury. And was paid to stay home.” It’s sad that we have that stereotype of a noble profession. But in Campbell’s case, it sure seems that’s what happened.

Campbell’s career lasted 10 years. Guess how much of it he spent out on injured status.?

Half.

Five years out of 10.

During which he got full pay.

I’ve long wondered about that full pay arrangement. Talk about an incentive to get “injured.” Does it occur to anyone that some firefighters might get injured less if they knew it wasn’t a ticket to a paid vacation? And yes, I realize some firefighters are devastatingly hurt on the job, but save your emails because I’m talking about the many who aren’t.

We don’t have all the details on what ailed Stephen Campbell, but one thing seems clear: It wasn’t some terrible injury that laid him low for all that time.

Get this: During his 10 years on the job, he went out on 10 separate long-term leaves.

Then — surprise — a month ago, he retired on, you guessed it, a tax-free disability pension.

In his case, it comes to $39,000 a year — almost 70 percent of his base salary. But he also gets $5,500 more under a contract provision that guarantees injured firefighters full take-home earnings. He’ll also get what almost no one in the private sector gets: a yearly cost-of-living adjustment of 3 percent. Keep in mind that statewide COLAs were canceled for their part in undermining the stability of the state pension system, but apparently, cities are still handing them out like gift bags.

Campbell is now 62 and if he lives to 80, he’ll get almost $1.5 million on the taxpayers. That’s for five years at the office.

Believe it or not, it gets worse.

In June 2011, Campbell returned to work from one of his constant absences for two lousy days. During one of them, he went out on a truck as an acting lieutenant because the real one was absent. Now get this: Under another incredible contract clause, this single day permanently entitles Campbell to the disability benefits of a lieutenant, a rank he never earned.

Actually, he didn’t even work that whole day. Five hours into the shift, he said he reinjured some previous injury.

The specifics of his injuries can’t yet be disclosed by law. But North Providence’s labor attorney, Vincent Ragosta, did give a quick detail on Stephen Campbell’s initial mishap. No, he didn’t fall off a ladder or fragment a lumbar disk carrying someone from a fire.

Campbell said he got injured picking up a small bag.

Like I said, there are some professions so noble they’re taboo to criticize. In this state, that sadly has resulted in the honorable image of the firefighter being tarnished by another stereotype: that too many are just there to game a fat “disability” pension.

I’m sure it’s an unfair stereotype, but it’s beginning to stick.

I see only one way to change it:

For good firefighters to express outrage at bad ones who work the system.

What a shame that they almost never do.

On Twitter: @MarkPatinkin