I’ve written before – with little or no impact – about the dearth of law enforcement investigations.
The more I complain about the miniscule drip of news out of our agencies, the more the spigot of information tightens.
Neither Bay City Police Department or the Matagorda County Sheriff’s Department can be bothered to share what, exactly, they do.
I’m talking everything.
If a residence on your street or rural road is burglarized, you will possibly learn about it on Facebook or by hearing the details or rumors on the street or road.
This newspaper used to receive reports of assault, theft, burglary investigations from both agencies.
Neither agency really tells the public about anything.
BCPD relies on little else but Facebook.
The county rarely says anything about the work it does – save for Sheriff Skipper Osborne’s remarks at Commissioners Court meetings.
I’ve reached out to both departments about the lack of reporting, with hardly anything to show for it.
Truly, it’s a matter of condescension.
Who needs the news media, when you have social media?
Let me go back to my earlier remark about that burglary in your neighborhood.
You pay taxes for law enforcement to keep you, your family and your property safe.
Shouldn’t you know when a crime has been committed nearby?
The bigger picture is law enforcement should be telling people what it does.
Regular reporting of what police and deputies is to their benefit.
Citizens should know the effort officers of all stripes put out daily in carrying out their duties.
We should know of the complexities that challenge their works and, more importantly, we should understand the dangers they face.
Bottom line: regular reporting of what officers investigate and discover tells the officers’ stories and, in my opinion, makes the departments look good.
I’ve made that argument to the police and sheriff’s officials and it’s fallen on deaf ears.
That’s always shocked and saddened me.
We’re deprived of all that when we’re not told what they’re investigating, including vehicle accidents.
Police Chief Robert Lister gives a yearly report to City Council that shows the different categories of criminal incidents and comparisons to statistics from recent years past.
I’ve found compiling all of that information for a news story really doesn’t provide the reader much, other than an exercise in plowing through data and law enforcement jargon.
I’m under no illusion that what I write here will make a difference to the powers that be.
All governments and the departments under them generally operate more in the dark.
There are exceptions to that sweeping assessment, but in nearly 50 years of reporting, agencies – starting with law enforcement – were more generous in providing news or background information.
