James Krapf of Chester, PA. was accused of violating the department policy when he placed a sticker of an american flag on the outside of his locker. The department claims the ban on personal items began after an incident occurred with certain firefighters complaining about a cartoon being posted in the firehouse that caused some to be offended, claiming it was racially offensive.
Krapf is intending to meet with the fire commissioner and the mayor to discuss the matter, stating, "I shouldn't have to remove the flag of the country I believe in. I love my country, I love my job. I love helping people. I've been doing this 11 years in the city of Chester, so this is something I love to do." The fire commissioner was reported as saying that banning all materials from locker doors was the simplest was to solve the problem. Apparently Krapf is refusing to remove the sticker and was the first firefighter to be suspended without pay.
I can understand Mr. Krapf wanting to display his patriotism, especially after the 9/11 tragedy. And with his firehouse being in the northeast, they were most likely involved directly. However, I can understand the department needing to stick to the overall policy.
The issue, according to the commissioner doesn't seem to be about the sticker being an american flag, more that if he let Mr. Krapf place personal items on his locker, he would have to let all the firefighters put up personal items and run the risk of offending someone, which is the reason the policy was put in place to begin with.
Mr. Krapf seems to be taking this very personally and making the issue more with what is on the sticker as opposed to the issue being about his personal items in general going against the policy.
I think its wonderful to have firefighters in our country that are so patriotic. However, patriotism can be shown in so many ways that don't go against policies. If it comes down to possibly losing your job, I think taking the sticker down, then talking to the commissioner would make more sense.
Don't get me wrong, I believe in standing up for what you believe in. I just think there might be better ways to approach a situation like this. We do have freedom of speech in this country, and arranging a meeting to put a new policy in effect that would allow only displaying american patriotic logos could be one way to resolve this matter. I can see both sides of the debate here and hope this can be resolved in peace.
I do not see the problem it is not like the flag is upsetting anyone. I understand they need to stick to the rules but this is taking it to far.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Tanya and Raychel on this. If the easiest way to deal with the problem was to write a poor policy then it would only make sense to amend it so that it accomplished what it was suppose to do in the first place.
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