My trip to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office was very informative in regards to where I could go to find public records related to criminal incidents. Before my visit to the office, I was under the impression that if an item was not available on the sheriff office’s Web Site that I could only obtain such information from the public library. My knowledge of where to obtain pubic records was very small before my participation in this class and the visit to the sheriff’s office was very beneficial.
Not only was I able to learn where I could obtain crime-related reports, but I learned about what types of information was available to me. I took great interest in the fact that search warrants are open to public inspection and include rather detailed information that could create a great lead-in for a developing news story. In addition to search warrants, I learned a great deal about incident reports. Before my visit, I surmised what had occurred from the brief information located on the arrest report online. The incident report would be a great research tool in regards to developing the events of the story. I especially enjoy the narrative style incident report written by the police officer on the final page of the report.
It probably wasn’t what Mr. Calloway intended, but his admission that it was possible for journalists to be on top of a story if not ahead of the police by listening to police scanners. Before thinking of a police scanner as a useful tool in learning where a good story might be, I associated scanners with nosy neighbors. Also, it was very good to know that videotape taken within the police station could be subject to public records. I am now debating the idea of requesting video of some friends’ arrests.
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