PoliceOne.com

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Disclosure of media information in officer involved shootings

How a police agency disseminates information in the aftermath of an officer involved shooting (OIS) can have repercussions long after the incident.  A proper balance must be struck between the public and the media's right to know and the protection of the release of information in an ongoing investigation.  Most police agencies are guilty of either releasing either too much information or too little information after an OIS.  The former situation occurred this past May when New York State Police command staff failed to adequately control the release of information after a State Trooper shot and killed an armed perpetrator who attacked the trooper responding to a home invasion.  The subsequent media coverage did not give an adequate account of the trooper's response and failed to explain the relevant state law involved in such deadly physical force situations.  There was a further lack of discipline among New York State Police uniform and investigative command staff in the release of information resulting in not one media contact and official police version of the events leading up to the shooting but at least three independent and variant source quotes.  But worse of all was the inexplicable inability of the Troop K Commander to express to the media and the public during the extensive coverage of the incident how lucky the involved troopers were to survive the incident and how their extensive training benefitted them and the victim homeowners.  In a time when ambush attacks on our nation's police officers are becoming all too common the very blunt official State Police responses that a grand jury investigation would determine the lawfulness of the trooper's actions was an ambush of a different variety.  Unfortunately with shrinking department budgets across the U.S. many police agencies have done away with the position of public information officer resulting in some unfortunate media relations between police brass and reporters.  Risk avoidance and management doesn't end after the critical incident has passed, continued vigilance in the aftermath of an incident, even in something as seemingly benign as press releases and media contact, must be maitained.  The following article provides some further guidelines:  
http://www.policeone.com/media-relations/articles/5814509-Disclosure-of-information-in-the-aftermath-of-an-officer-involved-shooting/