Police officers have the toughest job in the city. I’ve had the opportunity to work with officers in a variety of places and found that there are some important facts:
–Many officers don’t think much of journalists because reporters often fail to understand even the simple stuff, such as the difference among robbery, burglary and larceny.
–Many young reporters are distrustful of the police for whatever reasons.
–Most police officers see too often the journalists on the beat are either young cubs or older reporters with limited futures. I must note, however, that there are some superb police reporters in the country, oftentimes because they understand cops and what they do. And they report the good, the bad and the ugly.
–Most journalists don’t understand that a police officer on the scene is almost NEVER going to talk with you until he or she and his or her superiors have figured out what happened. Quick soundbites and quotes are not what police work is about.
–In Philadelphia, almost every request and inquiry needs to go through the public information office at 215-686-3388/3389 or [email protected]
–Furthermore, the Philadelphia Police District has one of the best websites in the country at www.phillypolice.com
It allows you to see information before it appears in the newspaper or on TV. Also, it allows you to track crimes in your district and map those incidents.
–Police officers are like everyone else except they actually put their lives on the line–there are great officers, fine officers, not-so-great officers and bad officers. As citizens and reporters, we need to understand that.
Philadelphia Neighborhoods has had some good and bad moments with the Philadelphia Police Department. A story we published in 2009 about an officer making racial comments caused a huge stir in the city and within the department. The officer was fired and later reinstated.
We also have had some good moments with the departments as evidenced by a special report we did at https://philadelphianeighborhoods.com/category/topics/special-report-police-and-communities/
We hit a rocky patch this week because of poor communications between the police and us, mainly because we didn’t follow the rules that well and because of our past relationship with one captain.
The head of the public information office has offered to come speak to the reporters for Philadelphia Neighborhoods in the fall. I am happy that he reached out to us. We need his insight.
What is important to keep in mind is that you are reporters and must identify yourselves as such. You are not doing a final paper for a class. You are reporting news for an organization that has 150,000 readers.
That doesn’t mean you have to pull any punches with the cops, but everyone needs to be on the same page when it comes to crime whether we are citizens, cops or reporters.
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