The Washington Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- If reports by this newspaper of a prostitution ring operating from four District firehouses are corroborated, we expect serious jail time for the organizers and participants. Mayor Adrian Fenty and Fire Chief Dennis L. Rubin should come down hard and fast if any city employees have pimped the city's public facilities. The allegations are appalling and intolerable.

The prostitution ring "D.C. Fems" — "Fire and Emergency Medical Services," how cute — is currently under investigation. As many as a dozen employees may be implicated, according to sources confiding in Matthew Cella of The Washington Times. The focus of the investigation is Engine 27 at 4201 Minnesota Ave. NE, which brags about being the city's busiest and key to Washington's fire response and emergency preparedness. A firehouse is no place for criminal sleaze and malfeasance.

This episode is likely to be Fire Chief Rubin's first test in a fast-moving scandal. The newly installed chief already has plenty of simmering problems on his hands left over from the Williams administration. These last few years, D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services has suffered more than its share of sorry episodes from poor response to managerial confusion to fraudulent CPR certifications, a litany of embarrassments whose full solutions are ongoing.

But now Chief Rubin must act swiftly if he is to retain public confidence. This is a different kind of scandal. All signs point to a literal whoring of the public trust. "[I]nvestigators are looking into whether female emergency medical technicians performed sex acts for money on men, including male employees, in the bunkhouses of fire stations since last year," say Mr. Cella's sources. A male employee is reportedly being investigated as a possible ringleader. If this is handled wrongly, D.C. fire and emergency response lose what remaining credibility they enjoy. This is not simply a matter of "Saturday Night Live" pimp-firefighter jokes, which are no doubt coming. At stake is the credibility of Chief Rubin's promise to reform his agency. These promises cannot be taken seriously if the fire chief cannot even crack down on illegal activity in public buildings.

Getting this investigation closed and immediately suspending anyone credibly accused of running prostitutes should be Chief Rubin's top priorities. The matter would then need to be promptly handed over for prosecution if and when the evidence warrants. Chief Rubin has made a strong initial statement: "I could not in good conscience allow recent allegations of employee misconduct to continue without taking swift and decisive action." We await the follow-through.

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