We've just been having this discussion in our county as well- what can and cannot be posted onto public and social media sites. I think that for some it is such a normal part of their lives that they forget the far-reaching capabilities of the internet. Our job is not to make things harder but to help. Besides thinking about the families of those involved we should also be thinking of the litigious nature of our current society. Do you really want to open your unit, and your local law enforcement, up to lawsuits?
As with most things the solution is to THINK before acting. :-) Chris
On 01/28/12, Joseph C. Huston<jchuston@earthlink.net> wrote:
We were called out to look for a missing man on Lake Conroe in December. Our team was asked to do the land search while LE searched the water. Side scan sonar picked up a possible hit and the divers went into the water. Once LE confirmed it was the individual we were looking for, a member of another team contacted their home office to let them know he had been found. It was immediately put on their web site. One of his parents happen to check this web site and saw that their sons body had been recovered. Needless to say, LE was not very happy that standard protocols were not followed that state that LE has the responsibility of notifying the family.
Joseph C. Huston
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-----Original Message----- From: Una Smith Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2012 10:21 AM To: Mounted search and rescue Subject: Re: [MSAR] Pictures
We had a big kerfuffle within the New Mexico SAR community recently. A dramatic search and rescue was made of a family trapped in their car. While driving a NM highway in whiteout blizzard conditions, they slid off the road into a ditch where the car was soon buried under 4 feet of snow and they became trapped inside. They made a cell phone call for help, and were located by SAR volunteers who searched a few miles of ditch with avalance probes. This was a day-and-night search; the car was found at 3am.
A photo of the car window down in a hole in the snow was given by a SAR responder to the family. The family passed it on to a reporter. The story was picked up nationwide and many media outlets contacted NMSP PIO and NMSARC PIO to request the photo or more information about the photo. Neither PIO knew at the time who was the source of the photo.
You can see the photo in question all over the web, including here:
Volunteer SAR responders are not mentioned specifically in most of the news stories. We work under the state police and often only that agency is mentioned. Incident Commander of this SAR mission was Nate Lay, who works for Philmont Scout Ranch and volunteers for SAR both as a member of Philmont SAR and as a NM SAR individual resource.