ESTÚPIDO SAVANNAH - Monday, January 05, 2009 8:15:16 AM
Reading COPBLOG is gonna be really bad for my Blood Pressure.
In his attempt to control Savannah’s media myrmidons, Darth Berkow has started blogging. Actually I doubt it is him doing the typing but it is definitely his message being blogged.
According to the site:
Savannah-Chatham Metro Police are constantly seeking new ways to communicate with our community. Here are some insights and thoughts about crime, crime prevention and your police ... straight from the source!
Straight from the Source?!?! Huzzah!
How wonderful that a paramilitary organization that has come under scrutiny for dirty dealings in the past, headed by a man who has admitted to professional tomfoolery, is now going to be the sole voice telling us what’s what.
I feel so much safer and better informed already.
Then there is “For the Record”:
“At times, the media inadvertently reports incorrect or misleading information about incidents or the department itself. …We believe our community deserves to see unfiltered information that allows you to make your own decisions and observations.”
This is where Berkow corrects the media, apparently by simply repeating the same phrase over and over again until you get bored and stop reading.
According to the “For the Record” version of the recent Ministry of Truth decision to restrict access to crime reports:
“All reports are available and SCMPD is in full compliance with the Georgia Open Records Act.”
That is probably true. The law was designed to end public agencies ability to keep secrets but has been weakened by lawmakers who decided that not keeping secrets led to em-bareass-ing questions. Now with “privacy concerns” as the excuse the law has been reduced to the point of being pointless.
In the old days all crimes reported in the city, in fact all police reports filed in the city were written down on sheets of paper and placed on a great big clipboard at Habersham St. Reporters would spend an hour or so each day sifting through these reports to see what had happened in the past 24 hours.
The great thing about the system was you would find all kinds of stuff that would never make the much touted “Crime Mapping System” such as drug arrests and drunk and disorderly charges.
So while the police continue to claim that “Daily crime incident reports will still be available to the media and the general public…” you have to ask for them and to ask for them you have to know they exist and you won’t know they exist unless you ask for them... so… uh… there!
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