Attorney: Fire Departments Need to Develop Social-, Digital-Media Policies

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This article discusses the need for departments to have policies that address the use of social media sites and digital images.

The author strongly urges departments to establish policies that address social media and digital images, if they don’t already exist. Here are a few tips he shared for creating such policies:

Policy statements should make clear that all images taken by on-duty personnel are the property of the department.

Authorized photographers should be identified by the chief and use only department-issued cameras. Only authorized photographers should take images at an incident.

Images should be inventoried and archived in a secure location on the department’s server.

Once they’re archived, they should be deleted from the camera. This should be done as soon as feasible — ideally, as soon as the crew returns to the station, but at least by the end of the shift.

The use of titles, department logos, department-owned images, or identification as a member of the department that creates an impression that the member is a spokesperson for the department should be prohibited.

Any social-media policy should address digital images — even if the department has a digital media policy in place.