Fire Fighter down with chopper go in Pine.

C'mon guys, there has to be a happy medium here someplace, between opening the News to see your child's body on the front page (which is what happened to the family of one of the Columbine victims, who recognized his clothes), and giving out too many private details in advance. "What the community needs to know" is situational, so decisions have to be made on a case-by-case basis.

And SC- in no way was I advocating that real personal information be posted in scanner posts- however- many of the local sites have gone overboard with restrictions.

This site- could be the source for information to the news media- and provide the community with better information - faster than any TV station ever could.

By posting the age - and the fact that a firefighter was down- in no way qualifies as personal information. I think you know that. Reasonable people do not need to even question that fact.

I'm arguing the other side of this issue- that far more information can be posted than is currently being provided to the community. Of course there are limits- but this does not seem to be the issue as much as with holding information.

Fire departments also sensor themselves- and will not air real personal information. They spend alot of time in meetings discussing this issue- and the standards have been tightened up constantly since 911.

But if I make any point here- I want everyone to know that anything heard on a scanner is public information. It belongs to the public the second it is broadcasted. It becomes public record that very second. Our county government records every second of every transmission for this very reason- it can be subpoenaed in any court of law as public record.

Therefor- any post that CG may provide from a scanner- is simply repeating what is already public record. You will never get in trouble for reporting what is public record.

reporting - present participle of re·port (Verb)
Verb:
1.Give a spoken or written account of something that one has observed, heard, done, or investigated.
2.Cover an event or subject as a journalist or a reporter.

I'm glad you are willing to defend the web site against free speech supression- I'm also willing to defend the information I allow to be broadcast to the world. If anyone ever tries to litigate against us- they stand to lose millions of dollars in damages under our first amendment rights.

Plenty of case law supports this- and many have been sorry they ever tried to sensor public information.

I'm also glad to hear that you will not allow our local government to supress free speech- it is in many cases- the local governments who need to be watched- it is our duty as citizens to call them out when they do wrongs.

A few mistakes were made during the North Fork Fire- and the same people who are complaining about CG's scanner post- were the same people raising holy hell about those mistakes. I find this hypocritical- they can opine all they want- but if a poster provides info from the public record they are chastised.

If this website wants to be the best- it will provide the community with as much information as it can during emergencies- plain and simple. And 285Bound can do all this without sensorship- and in a tasteful manner.

285Bound has the same rights to report information that any media outlet has- so why should we wait for the media to report somthing first? We should be the leader- not the follower.

Good to know the FF is doing fine.

I spend a lot of time listening to scanners and helping affiliates with these issues that come up. There are things that I do not post. We (communities bound ) are more careful with fatalities and swat/police situations. Smoky Hill Bound just went through the Aurora Shooting issues and we posted it all night. There were some things we did omit in that situation.

I am constantly considering all information and feedback and make changes as needed. Yesterday's post just did not seem to fall into the category of something that needed to be pulled and Communities Bound double checked with the site first. We post as a courtesy sometimes for our affiliates if needed. And every site is different, some are more careful than others for a variety of reasons.

I think talking to and working with your fire stations is a good thing and if you want to give communities bound feedback on how we can improve we welcome that at any time.

I am a firm believer in giving unaltered, unfiltered information when at all possible.

And P.S. I want to remind everyone that under the current restrictions that some of these web sites are using today- the following audio would never have been allowed to become news.

Some may remember that emergency personnel were trapped during the North Fork Fire. It became a news story because it was information that the public was interested in.

9 News did a story on it...
Wildfire today still has this recording on their website...
http://wildfiretoday.com/2012/03/28/im-stuck-in-my-vehicle-and-theres-fire-all-over/
The DenverPost did a story on it.. http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20506082/lower-north-fork-fire-ambushed-crews-surprised-residents

Four Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff officers were trapped in the Lower North Fork wildfire on March 26, 2011, southwest of Denver, but they escaped eventually, unhurt. This is an audio recording of some of the radio traffic from that incident, courtesy of 9news who got it from a scanner feed.

That was my scanner feed. I just happened to be in front of the scanners during this transmission- and locked the scanner so that all of this audio would be re-broadcast, otherwise the scanners would have gone on to other frequencies- and this audio would not have been available to the media that day.

This is the kind of example where sites like 285Bound can be a leader - not waiting for the news media for information- but being the source of information for the media. It's a powerful opportunity.

BearMtnHIB wrote: And SC- in no way was I advocating that real personal information be posted in scanner posts- however- many of the local sites have gone overboard with restrictions.

This site- could be the source for information to the news media- and provide the community with better information - faster than any TV station ever could.

By posting the age - and the fact that a firefighter was down- in no way qualifies as personal information. I think you know that. Reasonable people do not need to even question that fact.

I'm arguing the other side of this issue- that far more information can be posted than is currently being provided to the community. Of course there are limits- but this does not seem to be the issue as much as with holding information.

Fire departments also sensor themselves- and will not air real personal information. They spend alot of time in meetings discussing this issue- and the standards have been tightened up constantly since 911.

But if I make any point here- I want everyone to know that anything heard on a scanner is public information. It belongs to the public the second it is broadcasted. It becomes public record that very second. Our county government records every second of every transmission for this very reason- it can be subpoenaed in any court of law as public record.

Therefor- any post that CG may provide from a scanner- is simply repeating what is already public record. You will never get in trouble for reporting what is public record.

reporting - present participle of re·port (Verb)
Verb:
1.Give a spoken or written account of something that one has observed, heard, done, or investigated.
2.Cover an event or subject as a journalist or a reporter.

I'm glad you are willing to defend the web site against free speech supression- I'm also willing to defend the information I allow to be broadcast to the world. If anyone ever tries to litigate against us- they stand to lose millions of dollars in damages under our first amendment rights.

Plenty of case law supports this- and many have been sorry they ever tried to sensor public information.

I'm also glad to hear that you will not allow our local government to supress free speech- it is in many cases- the local governments who need to be watched- it is our duty as citizens to call them out when they do wrongs.

A few mistakes were made during the North Fork Fire- and the same people who are complaining about CG's scanner post- were the same people raising holy hell about those mistakes. I find this hypocritical- they can opine all they want- but if a poster provides info from the public record they are chastised.

If this website wants to be the best- it will provide the community with as much information as it can during emergencies- plain and simple. And 285Bound can do all this without sensorship- and in a tasteful manner.

285Bound has the same rights to report information that any media outlet has- so why should we wait for the media to report somthing first? We should be the leader- not the follower.

'Speaking of the North Fork Fire. I had to fight for some 'controversial' information that I posted in that fire. There was a scanner report about evacs hours before the actual official evacs went out. I posted it and to this day it is a record of some of the problems that happened in the north fork fire that could have cost lives. The county made it clear that the public is on it's own when making decisions on evacs so any information that can help them with that decision is very important. I asked several people (anyone and everyone I could) if they would want to know about evacs before they actually were official and they all believed this could save precious moments. That is the point of scanner posting for those who don't have time to listen.

I made it clear that I heard it on the scanner and it was not official and from almost all feedback it was the right call. I would do it again. I feel that was right and could have saved a life. I do things for a reason and research constantly on how to handle these situations. Thank you again.

This is the kind of example that sites like 285Bould can be a leader - not waiting for the news media for information- but being the source of information for the media. It's a powerful opportunity.

Exactly!!! We have beaten the media. We have to be smart about it and it take some responsibility with what we post but I agree 100%. The aurora shootings/smokyhillbound.com was a perfect example of this as well.

A few mistakes were made during the North Fork Fire- and the same people who are complaining about CG's scanner post- were the same people raising holy hell about those mistakes. I find this hypocritical- they can opine all they want- but if a poster provides info from the public record they are chastised.

This statement was blatantly false.

mymountaintown.com/forum/46-scanner-emer...ower-north-fork-fire

I publicly and privately praised CG for her work on this fire. (And she knows this)

Mistakes were definitely made on that fire but not by CG or this website.

BuyersAgent wrote: C'mon guys, there has to be a happy medium here someplace, between opening the News to see your child's body on the front page (which is what happened to the family of one of the Columbine victims, who recognized his clothes), and giving out too many private details in advance. "What the community needs to know" is situational, so decisions have to be made on a case-by-case basis.

I agree BA. I found out about the death of our Godson by reading it and seeing his picture on the front page of the DenverChannel website at 5:30 am on March 26, 2003.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/fi ... es-in-iraq

Even after nearly 10 years....the memory that morning is absolutely fresh in our minds and the pain is still very deep.