Editor’s Note
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Archive for August 15th, 2008

Warning: Burglars in the neighborhood

3 comments August 15th, 2008

Late last week, the Rockford Police Department issued a press release that said (and I paraphrase): If you live in northeast Rockford, lock your doors because someone is burglarizing homes.

The only other real information were the boundaries and the time frame: Riverside on the north; Alpine on the west; Bell School on the east and State on the south. Last time I checked that was one huge chunk of the city. Mostly between 9 a.m. — 3 p.m.

Frankly, there was a lot about that sketchy press release to annoy me. It was so vague. It must be news (meaning burglaries are uncommon in that quadrant). It must have been a lot of them or otherwise why mention them at all. And, just for good measure, I’m betting the cop shop doesn’t issue many press releases about burglaries in the southwest quadrant.

So, I asked my metro desk: Where are the answers? How many? Over what period of time? What was taken? Was anyone hurt? Where exactly? What neighborhoods? Suspects? What’s being done to catch the dude or dudette? Is this unusual? How does it compare/contrast with other areas of the city? Is this something new? If it weren’t serious, why issue a press release?

Here was the response from our journalists: We asked. They’re not talking and won’t say so we’ve FOIA’d ‘em. Not sure if they’ll respond, and if they do, response will be slow.

It annoys me that to get basic, public record information that’s actually useful, we have to beg. Answers to every one of those simple questions should have been in the press release. To demand that we go through a formal Freedom of Information Act paperwork drill is at best ludicrous and at worst an example of government secrecy at the expense of the public.

Maybe by the time you read this, the police brass will have come through with some answers. Don’t hold your breath.