Clark County Firefighters: Thieves

From the Las Vegas Sun: Since county officials began questioning firefighters’ use of sick leave two years ago, sick-leave requests in the Clark County Fire Department have fallen by 57,000 hours.
A report by county administration obtained by the Sun finds that within those 57,000 hours, battalion chiefs’ sick leave fell from an average of 164 hours a year two years ago to about 16 hours last year, a 90 percent decline.
For rank-and-file firefighters, the average hours of sick leave taken fell from 227 hours two years ago to 136 hours last year, a 40 percent drop.
The staggering decline has saved Clark County millions of dollars. Although firefighters are still paid while out sick, the department saved on the cost of an additional firefighter to fill in at overtime rates, which sometimes includes payments into the employees’ retirement account.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/mar/01/county-firefighters-use-sick-leave-falls-57000-hou/
57,000 hours in 2 years?  Firefighters were once looked upon as heroes of the neighborhood, but the Clark County Fire Department  firefighters have shown that they are not heroes but just money sucking thieves.  And it pains me to say that because I used to be a firefighter and EMT in Wisconsin and North Dakota.
And despite this, only 2 people have been fired (and they still got their full pension) and no one has been charged for theft.
So, to the Clark County firefighters- you are a disgrace to the firefighting profession and one hopes that the stealing of taxpayer money has stopped.  You are not irreplaceable and your jobs can be privatized if you don't get your act together.