The special obligation of male firefighters to stop sexual harassment in the fire service
Too many male firefighters are still not listening, especially when the message is coming from a woman
Want to commit the perfect crime? A former law enforcement colleague of mine told me that if you want to commit a crime and get away with it, then do it yourself and never tell anyone about it. Ever.
“As soon as there’s a second person involved, our chances of catching you increases by about 90%, because people talk,” he explained.
Translation to our discussion of firefighter harassment: No firefighter sexually harasses (or worse) another firefighter without somebody else knowing about it.
Regardless of the size or composition of any fire department (big, small; career, volunteer, combination), everyone knows everyone else’s business, especially at the station level. And the “juicier” the gossip, the faster fire department members outside the fire station learn about it. Firefighters are people, and people talk, especially about other people.