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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Firefighters Disciplined For Behavior Decontamination Shower Humiliated Female Officers

Associated Press

Four male firefighters have been punished for their behavior during an incident in which two female police officers were stripped for hazardous-material decontamination in an apartment complex parking lot.

One firefighter was suspended for six weeks without pay and three others received written reprimands.

The two King County police officers received $105,000 each earlier this year to settle separate $2 million claims they filed against Fire District 39 in Federal Way.

The incident occurred on April 15 after a methamphetamine drug laboratory was found in Federal Way.

The two female and five male police officers were required to strip and be washed down because of possible contact with the lab’s dangerous chemicals.

Christopher Vick, an attorney for the King County Police Guild, said the women were “exceedingly humiliated” by the experience.

Reports by the Washington State Patrol and the fire district were released Tuesday.

The fire district concluded that the firefighters made insensitive comments and did a poor job of maintaining privacy for the officers.

But the district also concluded that there was no evidence the firefighters intentionally violated the privacy of the disrobed officers.

Fire District administrator Jim Hamilton said the district’s firefighters will receive training to help them deal with the “gray areas” surrounding issues of privacy.

“But training is not the issue of the comments you’re seeing in this report,” Hamilton said. “This one is obviously not a gray area. Anybody off the street knows that’s not appropriate.”

The report said the suspended firefighter was one of two inside the privacy screen to do the decontamination.

Afterward, other firefighters reported he commented on the women’s pubic hair and said he was “glad he had been wearing loose-fitting clothing” because he didn’t want them to see he was sexually aroused.

The women police officers also complained that firefighters outside the privacy screen had peeked in at them while they were naked.

The fire district report concludes a firefighter from outside looked into the privacy screen but only “to monitor the progress of the decontamination.”

The women also said firefighters holding blankets for additional privacy didn’t do a very good job and held the blankets too low.

The two firefighters holding the blankets were among the three who received written reprimands.

The report concludes that “while it was not fully substantiated that the firefighters looked directly at the complainants, the firefighters did not hold the blankets up high enough at all times to provide appropriate privacy to the officers as requested.”

As part of the settlement with the women, $40,000 in drug-forfeiture assets will be used to buy a decontamination trailer.