One of five LAFD recruits in training class are related to department firefighters

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http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0228-lafd-recruit-20140228,0,1584181.story

One of five LAFD recruits in training class are related to department firefighters
Of the 70 recruits now in training, 13 are sons of firefighters and three are nephews, according to LAFD records. A probe is launched.
By Robert J. Lopez and Ben Welsh
February 27, 2014, 8:20 p.m.

One in five recruits in a new Los Angeles Fire Department training class are related to firefighters working at the agency, according to figures released Thursday evening.

Of the 70 recruits hired for the class now in training, 13 are sons of firefighters and three are nephews, according to figures provided to The Times by the department.

A spokesman for Mayor Eric Garcetti said an investigation was being launched to determine how 22% of the positions went to relatives of LAFD members.

The Times reported Thursday that thousands of firefighter candidates were disqualified last April from being considered because they failed to submit a key piece of paperwork in a 60-second period.

[Sheldon Cooper]

1. What the hell?

The personnel department only accepted the physical exam forms of those who submitted in the first 60 seconds of eligibility? That makes absolutely no sense. If they knew they'd be getting thousands of forms, they should have allowed more time for submission, or sucked it up and dealt with the onslaught. Instead they arbitrarily turned away thousands of people who didn't make the heretofore unknown 60-second cutoff. And furthermore, isn't it quite the coincidence that among those accepted there just happened to be all those relatives of existing firefighters?? How con-veeee-nient.

Ridiculous.