For FDNY brass, public criticism from the ranks must be on a par with national-security leaks. What else explains their decision to subpoena the phone records of female firefighters to find out who talked to The Post?
Officials are now refusing to promote 13-year firefighter Elizabeth Osgood after discovering that she complained to our Susan Edelman about the department’s decision to let a female probie become a firefighter without passing the running test.
Osgood was quoted anonymously and made clear she wasn’t speaking for the department. But our story about the probie evidently got brass in a lather.
Officials quickly launched a hunt for sources. They subpoenaed phone records of the female firefighters. After cross-checking with the reporter’s phone number, they confronted Osgood. She then admitted she had spoken to The Post.
Good work, guys. New Yorkers must feel so much safer now that you uncovered Public Enemy No. 1.
Truth is, Osgood was doing the public a favor by talking to The Post. The public has every right to know about what appears to be special treatment for a probie — especially given how we depend on firefighters to save lives.
No doubt, there’s enormous political pressure on the FDNY to staff its ranks with women. But if that means lowering standards, New Yorkers should know that, too. Besides, as Osgood says, going easier on women undermines everything female firefighters have “strived for and achieved of our own accord.”
The FDNY, for its part, says Osgood wasn’t promoted because she’s a “subject” in an investigation into the release of the probie’s “medical and personnel information.” But let’s be honest: A CIA leak about counterterror tactics this ain’t.
Clearly, department officials were angry The Post story made them look bad. Their response was to abuse their subpoena powers and exact revenge on a critic. Instead of putting out a fire, they’ve started one.