Back in the 1980s, I was engaged in a research project for the Department of Health on alarm receiving centres. We asked for information from all F&RS in the UK. Nothing controversial, just routine stuff that, today, you would get easily under the FOI.
The then CFOA lead on fire safety. a chief officer, met with us and assured us of all assistance. Strangely while some F&RS were extremely helpful, we could not get anything out of others in England. Then my good friends in the then Highlands and Islands F&RS explained why. The CFOA **** (synonym for gentleman deleted) we met with had allegedly written to all F&RS telling them not to cooperate. H&I said they would be ignoring CFOA advice as did many other of our chums in the F&RS. One refused point blank to help because (and I quote) they were not pleased with the NHS as they refused to use the (subsequently discredited) Harwell smoke detector tester. Humberside's comms officer said that it was a uniformed service and he had to do as he was told and would not be cooperating. He also said there was no point in talking to the CFO as (and I quote) his chief officer did not talk to consultants. An ACO somewhere, when I tried to reason with him that we were all on the same side, said we were not, as I (and I quote) made money out of fire safety. I asked whether the job of ACO was an honorary post for which he did not receive a big fat salary and whether his kids ate from soup kitchens, at which point he said he was terminating the call.
I have never fully trusted CFOA or chief fire officers in England since. It is a principal that I feel has stood me in good stead.
As it happens despite the best efforts of some F&RS to be obstructive, we got all we required and our recommendations for ARC response times are incorproated in British and European standards today, so it was ground breaking stuff, funded by the Department of Health.
