The media usually get’s 1/5th of the story correct if it’s more complicated than a hit and run or stop and rob incident.
Everyone is a talking head these days...... I rarely watch cable news but we were cooped up with inclement weather on the day of the Virginia Tech shooting incident. I was so disgusted with the news coverage and the comments made by “experts” on television.
It is pointless to debate about these topics when so few facts are known. An affidavit to support these arrests is sealed by the court. It is probably hundreds of pages long (single spaced) and spans all kinds of investigative procedures and techniques. Too often, including on this forum, you get people who seem to think the arresting document is contained within the news article written by some young hack. Too many people form an opinion based on the initial coverage and rarely change it when new facts come to light.
Law enforcement in America at every level suffers from diarrhea of the mouth in the quest for good publicity. It’s not necessary to tell the media a GPS tracker was put on the burglars car and detectives used that to follow him/her and catch them red-handed. The wiser men of yesteryear would simply say “we had him under surveillance”. Trackers are expensive. This is why affidavits like this should be sealed, these are extremely comprehensive investigations that will be critically reviewed throughout the process. Conspiracy minded folks neglect the FACT that the defense attorney, his defense colleagues, defense investigators, and any other expert they wish to employ are all free to scrutinize the facts contained within the four corners of the affidavit. The Judge and the appeals court are not an easy audience either!
You sound like you would be an interesting man at choir practice.
Re choir practice. My voice is so bad people pay me NOT to sing.
Also, I don’t like to preach to the choir. I like raw audiences of any persuasion since it will be a test of my presentation and knowledge to wake them up if they are asleep at the wheel, to provide them with new information so that they can begin to see the dimensions of a problem, and to bring them over to our side if they like and understand what I am saying.
However, I have a policy, “if you feed me, I will come”. Even the reds once gave me a cookie (my food tester said it was ok).
Re your comments. Yes, most reporters on criminal issues aren’t worth a damned. To lazy to do their homework. SOme of the TV shows on cable that deal with Cold Case Files, Disappeared persons, cold-blooded killings, etc. actually have investigators and authors who DO read everything relating to a case. It often gives them more of an insight into the case, the people, potential motives, and often overlooked leads or evidence.
I have found that in reading captured communist and PLO documents from Vietnam/Cambodia, Grenada, Lebanon, etc., often there is ONE LINE that changes the whole tenor of it. You just have to be on the look-out for such a sentence, name, etc.
I had to do this type of searching in FBI wiretap transcripts, newspaper articles, etc. when I worked on an organized crime task force. It was that one name that provided the link for asset seizures.
However, you must know what you are looking for, and also something about the context in which it appeared.
Too many reporters didn’t learn this in journalism school. I learned mine from those names I previously mentioned, plus from a couple of Pulitzer Prize writers I used to have lunch with. You just sit and listen to the pros talk. Then you ask questions. Much better than journalism school (to which I never went).
Also, you learn on the street, usually from the policemen on the beat, or CIDs who are friends of yours.
It also is nice to how a police officer in the family. He cleaned up my garden yesterday. I trained him well, as did the Army and the Albuquerque PD.
bump