Please Release Me!

I totally understand why police officers frequently have to save doing a press release for the end of their shift, quite frequently in the middle of the night, etc. They have real, police-type work to do. But as someone on the receiving end of those releases, I have a small request: Have someone else, fresher than yourself, read them over before you send them out - and maybe, have THEM rewrite it for clarity, if need be. I’d rather get it late, and clean, then fast and … problematic.

The media will never be the top priority for a line officer or somesuch, but … when basic facts are missing or so convoluted as to defy straightening, it doesn’t do anyone any good. So I urge all supervisors at police departments to at least work on a check list for the deputies, etc. so they can be sure to fill the bill (names, ages, vehicle description, etc.) - and to hold training sessions. Heck, I’d volunteer to help with them, because it would help me as much as it would help them!

Everyone knows the Five Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why) and H (how), right?

But I'm not going to sit here and say I expect a trained law enforcement official to be thinking all that clearly about that at 4 a.m., when a press release is the last thing between them and a soft, warm bed

So here are some examples, from a Bend PD release done at that ... wee hour of the morning. It talked of a restaurant robbery, and included the victim's name - something Bend police do, but newspapers do NOT include, usually, unless the person was injured and we need to tell their condition, etc.

This release told that a gunman had entered the restaurant, confronted the employee "and demanded she give him money. The suspect then left the business through a back door..."

Two things missing there - ones we can ASSume as reporters, but dare not: Did the worker GIVE him any money? (I know they usually say "undisclosed amount of cash" - that's fine, but at least make that clear!) And ... was she hurt? No, of course not, the release would have said. Still ... a good reporter will feel far more comfortable (and not need to reach for the phone) ... if it makes CLEAR that the worker was/was not injured.

It might have taken the lieutenant five minutes more to add that. But ... the recipient would feel that much more comfortable about not ASSuming anything.