Firefighters busted looking at porn on county computers

Tampa, Florida - Some people chuckled nervously, others frowned.

We showed taxpayers in Tampa dozens of pornography website titles downloaded by Hillsborough County Firefighters on county computers during county time.

People say what the firefighters did was wrong, but that they shouldn't be fired.

"What do you think? What do you think about that?" we asked school teacher Vicki Wiese. She told us, " I don't thnk I'd do that at my employment."

We also talked with a Lake Wales resident and asked him, "What do you think about that?" We pointed out the racy porn site titles. Gerald Kopf said, "Not if they're gonna do that on public computers, not in the workplace. That's wrong!"

The Fire Chief says not only is he giving free passes to his employees along with a warning, he's going to purge the information on the computers.

Experts say that's illegal because it violates Section 119 of Florida law dealing with public records. It's against the law to destroy public records.

Kopf added, "Don't fire them. Give them a warning."

Earlier Story

Tampa, Florida - Computers and the Internet have brought the world closer together, but they have also landed several Hillsborough firefighters in hot water.

The Hillsborough I.T. Department monitored county computers and Fire Chief Bill Nesmith says, "To be perfectly honest, we were terrible. "

Hillsborough Commissioner Rose Ferlita is upset with the information we discovered through a public record request. We learned inappropriate material was downloaded on county computers and much of it is too explicit to mention.

Ferlita says she can't believe they are doing this while on duty with county computers. The Commissioner says this is something that "absolutely has to be addressed and dealt with."

While Hillsborough County says failure to comply with the computer policy can leads to discipline -- including termination -- that apparently won't happen here. It appears a deal was worked out with the Administration and the Fire Department.

Hillsborough Fire Chief Bill Nesmith says in a memo, "The County Administration has given Hillsborough County Fire Rescue an opportunity to clean up our house; this is the only free pass and warning we will receive."

"There are no free passes in terms of government or there shouldn't be," says Ferlita. "That's what gets you in trouble."

County Administrator Pat Bean says firefighters should get a break and be told not to do this again.