Somebody does read the police log
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Submitted by victorpatton on Mon, 2008-08-18 08:56. |
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog asking readers if they read the police log.
I was a little worried that no one would respond to my inquiry, because about 10 days went by without a response.
To date, however, I have had five responses. Not as many as I had hoped -- but at least I now have confirmation that indeed somebody out there is reading the police log. So the 30 minutes or so that I spend every day typing out the log has not been in vain.
One response that sticks out is a letter from a reader named Lori Cooper. Cooper said she is one of those residents who reads the police log religiously on a daily basis. "I personally find it important to know about crimes in the community. I look for what kind of crimes have been reported. What times they can occur and and in what areas they happen. It helps me stay alert and keeps me aware of my surroundings," Cooper wrote.
On the other side of the coin, however, one reader who goes by the name "ancient warrior" posted on the blog that the police log is not such a good thing -- and negatively affects the real estate market.
"Personally....publishing a police log is bad for business and the real estate markets in the area. It goes without saying that every city has crime but looking at just raw data can skew a person's perspective of the city's overall appearance. I believe it would be more appropriate to publish a resource list of where a person, such as a prospective home buyer, could go if they want information on crime stats, etc.," the reader wrote.
Thanks to everyone who called and responded to my question. For those fans of the police log, I'll keep on typing those nuggets of raw info just for you.
Making the police log interesting to read
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Submitted by heidiwrites on Tue, 2008-08-19 09:33.
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I think both your readers had valid points, but if you're concerned whether people read the log, consider sprucing it up (with your editor's approval of course, which might be easier said than done). I wrote the log for a newspaper in Columbia, SC, for a couple of years. There were plenty of "interesting" crimes to report so I could pick and chose which ones to feature, and I wrote them in an irreverent voice. Truth is, you gotta have a sense of humor with this stuff or it can be really depressing and/or boring. Of course, in a professional, community newspaper you have to watch your level of irreverence. :)
My favorite police logs:
www.arcataeye.com
www.sierrasuntimes.com
Granted, these are smaller, more close-knit communities. But if you consider what is the point of a log -- to inform and hopefully entertain readers -- I think you'll get my point. Sure it bogs things down when you have to include names, ages, locations and avoid implication of guilt, but you're a good reporter. You can get around that right?
Syndicate
Small City - Big Stories
Victor,
I used to live in San Francisco - a big tourist town. I was visiting a friend than ran a hotel close to the O'Farrell Theater, when the police came around to the manager's office with a picture of severed head found in the dumpster behind the hotel. The cops asked if the head might belong to a missing hotel resident or visitor. Well, the short answer was, "No." But I watched the local "news" waiting for a sensational story on the TV or in the papers. Nothing. Silence. Then I remembered the Zodiac and how that case impacted the City all those years ago. If you have tourist dollars at stake the crime news is "bad". If you live in the "severed head" neighborhood, then maybe you might to know if your kids need to come home when the streetlights come on. It might be painful to read the "truth" from time to time, but without some basic facts of the world you live in how can you even be conscious of your situation and then talk to your family, kids, neighbors about your fair city. Believe it or not the Merced Sun-Star does serve a public interest. Its readership are not exclusively advertisers, real estate developers, car salesmen - its everybody. Everybody deserves to know what is going on.
Lucky for you (meaning the Merced Sun-Star) the compromise is that you can stop reporting the petty drug crimes and gang mayhem that is easy to report off the blotter and start doing some investigative journalism about local public corruption. Just reading the local blogs or the Merced Craiglist Rant & Rave clearly show that your readership is tired of the local officials doing nothing while the town burns all around. For Christ's sake, your paper runs a "Loose Lips" section that is the equivalent of junior-high school girls passing notes in math class. Merced deserves better.
What would Hersch, Murrow, Arnet or Woodward do if they were in Merced? Start working on your Pulitzer. McClatchy is a big paper - you better start inventing yourself.
Jesus did his best work before the age of 30.