Behind the Headlines » Reporting on crimes and allegations

Reporting on crimes and allegations

March 27th, 2008 by Steve

Reporting on crimes is difficult enough, but when the police are unable or unwilling to provide information, the task of reporting fairly and completely is next to impossible.

This is not simply the concern of editors and reporters. It is the concern of everyone. People need to know about serious crimes in their own neighborhoods because it affects whether they should take further steps to protect their safety and the safety of their families. Conversely, if the allegations of a serious crime are weak or disputed, people need to know that, too. If the media cannot obtain the information, the public will remain in the dark.

Something happened around midday on Monday at the Paiolu Kaiaulu emergency transitional shelter in Waianae, but what happened is very much in question.

One adult and the child’s mother say a 9-year-old girl was sexually assaulted.
The Honolulu Police Department says it is investigating an alleged sexual assault, but would provide no further information. In fact, HPD would not even confirm that its officers responded to an incident at the shelter on Monday.

One reason that HPD gave for its lack of information was that a person was off work for Kuhio Day. But our reporters have been trying since Tuesday to get information from the police.

We don’t expect the police to have solved the crime right away, but an explanation of what they found Monday — if in fact they came to the shelter on Monday — should be public information. Was a child taken to the hospital? What allegations were made? Some people at the shelter allege there has been a cover-up. HPD needs to speak out to allay such allegations. The public has a right to know.

A rape of a child is a very serious crime and the public is understandably concerned when such allegations surface. The public needs to know if there is any reason for concern or not, and the police are in the best position to provide that information.

As I said, no one expects all the details immediately. But the public shouldn’t have to wait this long for basic information on an allegedly serious crime.

I welcome your thoughts.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 3:48 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Reporting on crimes and allegations”

Chicken Grease:
March 28th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I’ll start off lightly — maybe HPD saw that you folks are lax in mentioning names when it comes to egg-throwing incidents, with a follow-up street solicitation from one of the eggang-throwing members and decided the paper wouldn’t know how to handle names and other disclosure when it comes to this kind of major crime.

More seriously, however, this is why a free press, to me, exists; so that there is a check and balance of things, ’specially when it comes to any facet of government (not just law enforcement), the one large entity in our existence who can easily cover up things.

That ALL having been said . . . I go through a trust to less trust (but, never ultimately NO trust, as you’ll see in a minute) when it comes to the police lately. I really had 100% faith in them when I was younger, but, due to certain situations, I don’t know if I can maintain that belief. Maybe I’m 90% right now.

One thing I hold steadfast, though, is, when it comes to these kinds of major crimes (rape, murder, etc.), this is where the police needs to be at their utmost professional, knowledgeable, and skillful, and I think they always are in this case. They have a good reason for not disclosing information in this — and other major crimes — case . . . and, guess what? I believe ‘em, whatever their reason(s) might be.

I think the police also finds the press helpful when they are trying to locate someone or trying to weed out a suspect or someone they wish to question. You press guys need to remember that you’re “owed” (for lack of a better word) in those types of cases, too, you know, for future yse.

Doesn’t mean the press DOESN’T act as the check and balance for such major crimes, of course. So, Advertiser, keep on this story.
spankthemonkey:
April 9th, 2008 at 8:10 am
advoid the police as much as possible.
they prey on the public - tickets tickets and more tickets.
jay walking - bike and traffic tickets by the basket full.
there use to be a time when the police would give you a friendly reminder and a wave
everyone makes a mistake - not any more.
ship some of them off to l.a. and put them on the street facing the c & bloods.
they will pee their pants.. the police use to be friends of the public - now they
pick our pockets..
Doug:
April 30th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Pssst. One month since your last post? That type of effort is not going to keep this blog alive for very long…