Denver Police Reports Harder to Get Under New System

This dearth of communication naturally spawned conspiracy theories. Indeed, Denver Daily News editor Tad Rickman admits that the vague explanations he received from DPD public-information officer Sonny Jackson made him wonder if the city was trying to artificially burnish its reputation by tinkering with crime statistics prior to August's Democratic National Convention. Rocky Mountain News assistant city editor Luke Clarke doesn't go that far, but even if serious crimes weren't being filtered out on purpose, he feels that "the net effect ends up being the same whether they intend it or not. It's not consistent with open government, which I believe to be Mayor Hickenlooper's policy." Denver Post public affairs editor Chuck Murphy sounds similar concerns. The shortage of reports "forced us to rely on spokespeople for the police department and others a lot more than I would like," he concedes. "I would prefer that Sonny Jackson not edit the metro section."

The new press-room log and regular e-mailing is a step up in at least one respect: Big crimes are part of the mix. But there are drawbacks as well. The listings appear sans narratives because, Saunier says, all that detail would make the piles (and files) enormous — although why that's any different from the modus operandi six months ago is unclear. He promises to provide PDFs of fuller reports to media types who request them by case number, but journos will have to guess what's interesting from the names of those involved or offense types, which are often mighty broad. As the Rocky's Clarke notes, the sex-assault category encompasses everything from serial rapists to guys exposing themselves. While reporters could make sure they're not missing the good stuff by requesting copies of just about everything, Clarke's not ready to declare war quite yet. "I could justify doing it," he says, "but I don't want to overwhelm them."

The Boulder police's methodology represents a modest upgrade over the DPD's. Each morning, PIO Huntley creates a call-report log as colleague Julie Brooks assembles a blotter that summarizes items that may be of interest to the media — and both are placed online at www.boulder-police.com. If the DPD came up with something similar — or, better yet, launched a secure media site with the narratives included — the press would be pleased. But Saunier isn't ready to commit to anything so ambitious. Already, he'll be expected to serve as a middleman for journalists wanting reports — potentially a very time-consuming process. "I need to figure out if it's a manageable deal," Saunier says. "If it becomes way too demanding, we'll look at something different."

For now, Clarke and Murphy are withholding judgment about the new system until they get more staff feedback — but Williams sees more minuses than plusses. During February's first week, he says no log appeared in the press room at all, and he only got two e-mailed PDFs, as opposed to one for each day. Worse, he had no idea what cases were hidden gems because they lacked narratives — and when he took a shot and requested some files from PIO Jackson anyway, the PDFs didn't arrive for nearly two days.

Williams is frustrated, to put it mildly. Already his paper is running the police blotter less frequently, and he feels the new, improved set-up "makes it a lot tougher for writers and reporters." After a pause, he adds, "Maybe that's part of the whole plan."