15 Comments Add your own

• 1. PJ  |  August 22nd, 2008 at 11:49 am

  I see a recent letter to the editor where the writer is complaining of similar problems. How can any police department function without the mutual exchange of information with the public? It is not the police department causing these problems, it is the police chief.

  When the press has to go to the mayor to get information released from the the chief of police it tells me we have a very serious problem. Did the mayor refer you to the city legal department?

  I hope you keep after them. The department has gone down hill from the day this chief was appointed and controlled by the mayor.

• 2. Lawrence Gregory Clarkson  |  August 22nd, 2008 at 1:45 pm

  Bring back Dominic Iasparro!!!!

• 3. PJ  |  August 22nd, 2008 at 9:59 pm

  Dominic would have been an excellent choice because he was totally dedicated to the police department and did everything by the book. He would not alter his high personal principles and standards for anything or anybody and I expect that is the main reason the mayor would never have appointed him.

  The police department never had any of the current problems with any of the previous chief’s. When are people going to wake up and try to correct the source of the problems.

• 4. John Biltmore  |  August 23rd, 2008 at 4:41 pm

  Linda -
  I asked you this question previoulsy, and I guess it appeared to be “snide” because you didn’t answer. With all due respect - what I am asking is, isn’t there some way to get this information without depending exclusively on the police? I am certain that there are readers who would appreciate some enterprising effort. Just a thought.

• 5. Linda Grist Cunningham  |  August 23rd, 2008 at 5:20 pm

  John: I’m sorry. I know you asked it earlier and I meant to post a response and got sidetracked by the non-cyber world. Actually, I’m not sure there is another way, or at least not one that is efficient and credible. The police are the keepers of those records. They gather the information, they chose what to keep and what to disregard under the law. Police reports have long, strong track records for credibility. So, could we do the same as the police? Well sort of or maybe, but not nearly as comprehensively. For instance, a homeowner is going to call the police rather than the newspaper when her home is burglarized. Even if she calls us, we have no simple ways to verify what she’s telling us. And, one or even a handful of calls from residents gives only a glimpse of what might really be occurring, hence an incomplete and potentially inaccurate report. Nor do we have have the investigatory staff — nor the legal authority — to do the kinds of investigations the police do. We don’t print what we can’t document, but when that same information comes “according to police reports,” the credibility of the police report is satisfactory documentation for our reporting.
  What it comes down to is this: We do primary, feet-on-the-street reporting. What we learn we incorporate, compare and contrast with what police reports document. When the two records — our and theirs — are in sync, then there’s a decent chance that we are reporting fully and accurately. Where they diverge, a lot more reporting and questioning is called for. It’s a delicate, time-consuming and important researching balance, and it’s worked well for a couple hundred years.
  When the police, however, refuse to release the most fundamental of public records, the system breaks down and the public is left wondering what the heck is going on.

• 6. John Biltmore  |  August 24th, 2008 at 4:52 pm

  Linda, thanks for the note back. Since I’m not sitting in your chair, I can’t possibly know all the pressures you face and tradeoffs you have to make. So I am admittedly responding without knowing the whole story.

  But your answer strikes me as too passive. Would you give the same answer if you faced competition?

  What about talking to the aldermen who represent that part of the city — or all the aldermen, for that matter? Nearby businesses? What about talking to county legislators, to the State’s Attorney? To neighborhood groups - for instance, maybe you would find some have organized neighborhood watch patrols or have taken to informing themselves about the danger? Or, might this be an instance where you try the well-publicized “crowd-sourcing” method?

  Obviously this sounds like a lot of work — for what may be low or no return at all. But if you start with the assumption (as I think you have) that there is a story here worth telling, that the newspaper can help residents protect themselves with information - then maybe these are resources you should devote. I can’t tell this looking from the outside - only you and your editors can. If that’s your calculus, that there isn’t an important enough story to warrant the investment … I can respect that. I think.

  .

• 7. Linda Grist Cunningham  |  August 25th, 2008 at 8:13 am

  John: Those are good points and I should have made myself a bit clearer. When I said we “do primary, feet-on-the-street” reporting those are the kinds of things I was referring to. Still, no matter how good the feet-on-the street, without the specific details from the cops, there’s a major gap in the coverage.

• 8. hokumboy  |  August 25th, 2008 at 2:01 pm

  So,
  how many “feet on the street” did you amputate with the recent buyout and layoff implementations?

• 9. Linda Grist Cunningham  |  August 25th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

  As we have reported several times:
  Newsroom had six staffers take the buyouts; newsroom laid off one FT and two PT with the layoffs. Not all were reporters, but each contributed to overall coverage. There are 75 journalists remaining in the newsroom.

• 10. JW  |  August 26th, 2008 at 8:35 am

  Any updates?

• 11. hokumboy  |  August 28th, 2008 at 8:23 am

  Any updates?

• 12. Linda Grist Cunningham  |  August 28th, 2008 at 8:27 am

  Yeh. Go back to rrstar.com home page. Was lead story also in the paper today. Arrests made.

• 13. hokumboy  |  August 28th, 2008 at 9:15 am

  Thanks,
  I always hit the blogs before the home page.

  Hopefully these are the only guys in “the ring”.
  Now, if the police can concentrate on catching the losers that are attacking the homeless.
  With the burglaries only replaceable property was involved. It’s just stuff. I’ve been burglarized more than once over the years and I just grumbled that I should have had a lower deductable on my insurance policy and then went out and got more stuff.
  But, with the attacks that are taking place, the chances of someone being killed are increasing with each and every incident. Killed.

• 14. PJ  |  August 28th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

  Linda,
  I think it is somewhat unfair in stating the police are the keepers of the records, or that the police are refusing to release fundamental public records. It leads people to believe that everyone in the entire department is involved.

  Individual officer’s document everything they do in an incident report which is signed and submitted via the chain of command to the chief. The original copy of the report is also forwarded directly to the records bureau. Nobody in the chain of command is allowed to make any substantive change to the officer’s report. That is what makes their reports complete, accurate, and credible.

  Individual officer’s are forbidden by policy, and rightly so, from releasing incident and investigative reports to the public. Thats is a function of the chief and a few designated individuals.

  It would it be more accurate to say the police department is the keeper of the records and that the police chief is the individual refusing to release the information.

• 15. John Biltmore  |  August 31st, 2008 at 5:38 pm

  PJ…The issue isn’t the police. The police may or may not have had legit reasons to hold back the information. The issue really is the newspaper adopting a very meek, “there’s nothing we can do about it” response with regard to their reporting. I have not doubt that there would have been SOMETHING the paper could have reported about this had they put their mind to it. It would not have been perfect. However, it would have been better than complaining that the people in authority were not cooperating. The state of our journalism is very weak right now, and it’s not just in Rockford, it is nationwide.

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