It wasn’t quite a Friday news dump, but it was pretty darned close. The scoldy Facebook post from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office went up at 4:55 p.m., Thursday, June 17.
In it was the complete email from Albuquerque Journal reporter Ryan Boetel. The main thrust of the email was questioning why BCSO seemed to be withholding information about homicides and other major incidents until an arrest was made.
More to the point, Boetel asked if the strategy was related to Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales’ decision to run for mayor of Albuquerque.
Was not disclosing crimes until after an arrest for “political purposes?,” Boetel asked.
The office responded in its Facebook post by reminding the public how “hostile” media is to law enforcement, then offered a look behind the curtain, what they encounter on a regular basis. They lead into Boetel’s email by referring to him as a “journalist.”
It is unclear why quotes were used. Perhaps “law enforcement” isn’t well versed in their use.
The post then goes on to pshaw politics as being a motivator, pointing out they don’t have time for that.
“We’ve been a little busy being flooded with requests” for services of various kinds. Now we’re not saying that isn’t true. Most communities throughout New Mexico want more protection, patrols and well, enforcement of the law, from law enforcement. Those are fair requests, since that’s the whole reason these agencies exist.
What is also a fair request is a reporter asking a department why it’s withholding information from the public. After all, it’s not like Boetel was going to find out about a murder then sit on the information. He was going to write an article, informing the community about the situation.
What’s especially interesting about BCSO’s justification for delaying the release of information to the public is that basically, sometimes there just isn’t time, and points to a recent incident where a “deranged individual” shot at one of its deputies.
Let that sink in. A (checks notes), yes, a “deranged individual,” as the sheriff’s office puts it, shot at one of their deputies. Journal City Editor Martin Salazar addressed that incident in a recent UpFront column.
This “deranged individual” tried to bait the deputy into pulling him over, then shot at her, all while she was driving on the interstate in her marked unit. According to Salazar’s column, this incident happened on May 27, and the first time the public was made aware of it was in the Facebook post from BCSO weeks later, while sniping at a local journalist for doing his job.
By then the man had been arrested, but wouldn’t it have been nice for the people living in the area of Gibson and Interstate 25 to have known a “deranged individual” was in their neighborhood on May 27?
Members of law enforcement can dislike reporters as much as they want and opine about how hostile we are, but if they are failing the community to this extent, they should expect quite a bit of push back from “journalists” and others.
SPJ-Rio Grande 100 percent supports the rights of all journalists to ask questions of public, taxpayer funded agencies. Additionally, we support any member of the public who seeks to hold government accountable. We are the ones funding their operations, the primary function of which is to serve the community. In the specific case of law enforcement agencies, their primary job is to not only serve, but protect.
Also, for those of you who might be wondering what took us so long to respond, we’ve been “a little busy,” being journalists.
