In a follow up to the Angry Captain in Miami-Dade I got to wondering why Captain Smart had not already been fired. Millions of people have now seen this video of Captain Smart wrongly trying to bully a citizen into not filming a helicopter operation.
He was wrong in intention, in the law, in Operations...I'll even go so far as to say the polo shirts they wear leave a lot to be desired, but, it was at least clean and tucked in. He raised his voice, yelled, threatened to call the police, called the police, all the while the patient was not being transferred. But they run 3 man rigs there...so 2 plus the helo crew likely means the patient was being well looked out for.
So let's get to the giant pink double standard in the room.
Let's say this video was posted onto a local Miami-Dade Facebook page in a universe where Captain Smart stays in that odd looking ambulance and transfers the patient without confronting the person filming. All goes fine and they later drive away.
Now Captain Smart gets home and sees the video.
He types his interaction with the person filming into the comments section. Word. For. Word.
I think we can all agree Captain Smart would have already been suspended and a blanket no social media policy would be in place in Miami-Dade.
So why the double standard?
I think it is because Departments have yet to realize that social media is just the tool bad employees use to do bad things. Captain Smart didn't need social media to make his agency look the fool, he did that on his own. He just had the unfortunate experience of doing it in front of 2 cameras.
Facebook is not your enemy Mr and Mrs Fire Department, your bad eggs are.
Captain Smart may be an accomplished firefighter/Paramedic/Company Officer but will forever be remembered for losing his cool with a kid with a camera that one day the helicopter landed.
Folks, we are being filmed everywhere we go. Generation Y seems to understand that, the boomers are having a little more trouble with it I think. Having even more trouble with it are the folks in the gap, those in their late 40s and early 50s. For whatever reason it's this population that seems to adopt a black out mentality when it comes to social media and sharing membership in the fire service. There are exceptions to every rule, I've met quite a few right here within the walls of social media. Trouble is, most of the administration of the fire and EMS services today are in this socialphobic bubble where anyone who posts a pic of themselves in an FD T-shirt on facebook is out to ruin the good image of the Department.
Just look at Captain Smart. He didn't need social media to screw up, he did that all on his own, but will likely not even get a day on the beach judging by his Department's initial response hiding behind scene safety.
Your crews wear polo shirts...scene safety? Nice try, shake the magic 8 ball again Miami-Dade.
Just remember that had he done it anywhere else but in the face of a citizen, at an emergency scene with patient care still happening and captured on camera for the world to see, it's a bad thing. Seriously?
Comments
First and foremost, it seems that management at MDFR is supporting Captain Smart. They are reviewing the incident, but he is still working.
Second, just about every FF is a paramedic at MDFR. So, it would be the flight crew, the two medics on the ambulance, and how ever many on the engine that weren't directing traffic around the "secure" landing zone.