Lest someone be frightened off from writing reports, the reason sworn
statements were required in the incidents that I mentioned earlier was that we
were considered witnesses. Mine was a defamation of character case between two
non city employees and the other one was a person seeking damages for a fall
down the stairs where there were no eye witnesses but the employee heard the
fall take place. In both situations the only support we got from the city was
tell the truth.
It is unlikely that there will be a lot of reports in a convention setting.
It’s just that they will be documented in case any further questions arise.
Anyway, the types of incidents which may create problems are likely the type
where there are consequences from both not writing reports and from writing
reports. Having a code and taking it seriously offers greater protection for
the organizers, victims, and the accused individuals in the rare situations
someone is lying. And, as Anne said, if the report writer is untrustworthy and
lies, eventually that usually is also revealed through the reports they write
(or ignore writing). Also, as Anne speculated, eventually the library
designated people who could write the reports although any staff member could
and was expected to take information if a designated writer was not immediately
available.
Again, I am not a lawyer but am writing from the unique perspective of having
lots of years of practical experience.
I am more afraid of the consequences of not writing reports, even without the
support of lawyers and an HR department.
Carol Martinson
Sent from my iPad
> On May 20, 2021, at 7:04 AM, Anne LaVin wrote:
>
>
>> On Wed, May 19, 2021 at 3:24 PM Anne LaVin wrote:
>
>>
>> I will be an ally.
>
> I was reminded, off-list, that even general community efforts towards CoCs
> and related behavior can be somewhat fraught: in this example, I am only
> potentially useful as an ally for someone in trouble *if I can be trusted*. I
> like to think that I could be, but a complete stranger has no way of knowing
> this, of course. And a Bad Actor could do exactly as I have done in order to
> get close to someone vulnerable. People do suck, sometimes.
>
> Just goes to show that this stuff is Not Easy. And that in a convention/event
> context, it's probable that the Con organizers would have to designate
> "official" folks to be available to help, if only for their own liability.
>
> Still, it's the community as a whole that can work towards creating an
> appropriate and welcoming culture, and that's still on all of *us*.
>
> Anne
