Circumstantial Powers of “Special Fire Police” in Pennsylvania: Statutory Consequences and Recommendations

• Published date: 01 May 2020
• Author: Melissa Sneath,John G. Thacik,Wesley R. Attwood
• Date: 01 May 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0887403419864143
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0887403419864143

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2020, Vol. 31(4) 592 –608

© The Author(s) 2019

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DOI: 10.1177/0887403419864143

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Article

Circumstantial Powers

of “Special Fire Police”

in Pennsylvania: Statutory

Consequences and

Recommendations

Wesley R. Attwood1, Melissa Sneath1,

and John G. Thacik1

Abstract

Volunteer police have been an instrumental part of Western policing since the

inception of the concept of police. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania utilizes

volunteer police under the title of “Special Fire Police.” Described as “firemen cloaked

with police powers” in corresponding case law, these volunteers are statutorily

provided with full powers to regulate traffic and keep crowds under control at

any fire or emergency and to exercise other police powers which are necessary to

prevent interference with the work of firemen. Although these volunteers have been

in use for more than 50 years, the other police powers they are granted by law have

remained largely undefined. This research will examine the current statutory and case

law relevant to special fire police as well as those relevant to general Pennsylvania

police powers to demonstrate the circumstantially defined police powers that could

be adopted based on interpretation.

Keywords

volunteer, police, firefighter, training, statutory law

Introduction

One of the most prevailing issues confronting local governments currently is how to

allocate scarce and decreasing resources to meet their communities’ needs. In terms of

emergency response, this requires local governments to ensure that services such as

1California University of Pennsylvania, PA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Wesley R. Attwood, California University of Pennsylvania, 250 University Avenue, California, PA, USA.

Email: att7805@calu.edu

864143CJPXXX10.1177/0887403419864143Criminal Justice Policy ReviewAttwood et al.

research-article2019

Attwood et al. 593

firefighting and law enforcement are well positioned to provide immediate assistance

and effective service in the event of an incident (Yang, Viswanathan, Lertworawanich,

& Kumar, 2004). A traditional method to augment existing emergency services has

been by employing volunteer police. The use of these personnel has provided finan-

cial, strategic, and personnel benefits to local governments (Dobrin, 2016). However,

current research has demonstrated that there is very limited information available

about volunteer police and their total impact (Dobrin & Wolf, 2016).

For more than 50 years, Pennsylvania has utilized volunteer police for emergency

response in various functions related to firefighting incidents. These “Special Fire

Police” are statutorily granted with the full power to regulate traffic and keep crowds

under control at or in the vicinity of any fire or emergency and to exercise other police

powers which are necessary to facilitate and prevent interference with the work of fire-

men (35 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 7435a, 2011). In terms of definition, special fire police fall

into the category of volunteer police officer as they are volunteer positions who exer-

cise some variation of law enforcement powers (Dobrin & Wolf, 2016). But unlike

volunteer police officers, special fire police are statutorily members of a volunteer fire

company (35 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 7433, 2011). During times of emergency, these person-

nel provide traffic and crowd control, participate in evacuation movements, patrol the

perimeter of a scene, and communicate with the media and community members

(Borring & Riccardi, 2003a). They also perform policing activities at parades, com-

munity activities, and sporting events (Borring & Riccardi, 2003b). Although their

uses during emergencies and nonemergencies have been greatly expanded over the

years, current data on the number of active special fire police in use and which volun-

teer fire companies employ them remain unavailable due to lack of state tracking.

Special fire police also remain an entity of Pennsylvania’s emergency response system

that are not statutorily required to complete any initial or ongoing training and educa-

tion to exercise their powers. Even with several progressive training courses being

established and offered by the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy, they remain optional

for fire companies nominating members to become special fire police (Borring &

Riccardi, 2003b).

Various concerns are raised in this research regarding Pennsylvania’s special fire

police due to the lack of an existing definition of what “other police powers” they are

able to exercise. Some case law has suggested some of these powers relate to specific

situations and circumstances, but statutory law remains largely ambiguous and leaves

their ability to exercise police powers unchecked. As such, this research argues that

special fire police maintain “circumstantial powers” by law. In addition, with no statu-

torily required training for their defined and potential powers, the use of special fire

police presents a problematic situation in terms of civil liability and potential com-

munity harm. This research will examine the current statutory and case law relevant to

special fire police as well as those relevant to general Pennsylvania police powers to

demonstrate the circumstantially defined police powers that could be adopted and the

police powers which could be adopted based on interpretation. Implications of these

adopted police powers in the absence of strict definitions will be discussed and recom-

mendations will be provided for change.