I owe readers in Clarkston an apology. For nearly seven months I’ve been traipsing between substations in Springfield and Independence townships to pour over piles of police reports in an effort to keep residents apprised of crime and other goings-on.
You name it, I’ve read it and reported it. Drunken drivers, pummeled partners, neighborly nonsense; it’s there every week on page 9A of The Clarkston News.
But last week I attended the Clarkston Police Committee’s public hearing, where several residents voiced concerns about the ‘missing? Clarkston reports.
Why, they asked, were Clarkston reports not published every week like the others?
That, I thought to myself, is a good question.
It’s my responsibility to get police information in the paper, so I set out to figure out what went wrong and when.
I looked all the way back to October 2005 in the archives and found one Clarkston report, and that was a call-in from former chief Combs.
When I came on board in October, the reporter vacating the police beat told me where to find the Independence and Springfield Township substations, who I should talk to, best days to go, details to look for and so on. The Clarkston Police, he said, really wouldn’t be bothered with us.
Well, I thought at the time, phooey on that.
I asked the then-chief about his reports.
There’s no crime in Clarkston, he said. You’d be wasting your time.
I don’t care, I said. I’d like to see them anyway.
Somehow it just never happened, same as a lot of things never happened in that administration.
In seven months, I’ve not been privy to a single police report’not one’from the Clarkston PD.
There’s more to the story of course; subtle details, observations, personal experiences and hand-me-down stories all make for a questionable pot of police stew that was inadvertently shoved to the back burner until I could figure out what to do with it.
After all, I was busy and getting in there was like pulling teeth or swimming in glue.
But that’s no excuse. Those reports belong in the paper.
Given the over-the-top, blame-shifting reaction of city police liaison Bill Rausch to my ‘Cops snooze, it’s news? column, I imagine the Clarkston PD is none too happy with me. Luckily, it’s not my job to make them, or anyone else, happy.
It’s also not my job, as some suggested, to go to the city council or the police department with information, rather than reporting it to the public.
It is my job, however, to get those reports in the paper.
So, in the best interest of the community, I hope the Clarkston PD can move forward and work with The Clarkston News in a civilized and professional manner.
Residents who want to encourage police disclosure can call acting Chief Jim Thompson at 248-625-0088 and ask him to make those reports available.
Finally, thanks to everyone who offered quiet support in response to ‘Cops snooze, it’s news.? It’s heartening to know the majority is still interested in honesty and truth.
LauraLColvin@aol.com