BACK
Subtleties in reporting cost cops
By
Sgt. Jeff Baker
In a recent article appearing in the Omaha World-Herald, the story of a bad-apple county jailer appeared. The piece detailed how the unscrupulous guard had allegedly ripped off $4,000 from better than a half-dozen co-workers at the Douglas County Correctional Center in Omaha. He reportedly offered victims a variety of bargains including discounted plane tickets to Las Vegas, inexpensive car parts, and investments in a thoroughbred racehorse.
Not really a huge deal in my world, but something about the byline readily caught my attention. The headline boldly read: “Officer resigns in fraud probe”.
By using the word "Officer" in the title, most readers immediately assume the story deals with a cop. As in a police officer. Corrections officers—or COs as some of them call themselves—oftentimes argue that they are part of the general law enforcement community, just as probation officers, constables and other non-police personnel sometimes do.
But they aren't.
Are they part of the criminal justice system? Yes, surely so. Are they cops—officers of the law? Nope. At least not in my book. (I believe now is a prudent time to mention that I harbor nothing but respect for individuals in other facets of the criminal justice system, so if you’re in corrections and you find yourself taking offense to this missive, please understand disrespect is not my intent whatsoever.)
Back on point: For one, corrections officers (or jailers/prison guards as many folk refer to them as) don't typically have to pass as rigorous a series of pre-employment tests, background checks and personal inquiries such as polygraphs before getting hired. Once hired, 'jail standards' training put on through the state (at least here in Nebraska) absolutely pales in comparison to OPD's five-month long academy and four months of field training, or even the three-month stint other Nebraska law enforcement recruits go through via the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center in Grand Island (I can comment with some authority here, as I've attended both academies). In short, there's a difference between COs/jailers/prison guards/whatever and full-fledged police officers.
So I contend that leading into this story with the word "Officer" is ambiguous at best, unfair to law enforcement, cops, at worst. Again, people assume “Officer” means police officer.
Not corrections officer.
Not security officer.
Not chief financial officer.
Not animal control officer.
Not loan officer.
But police officer.
This is the type of thing which, however seemingly small or insignificant it might appear to a journalist or editor, is the sort of issue that positively sticks in the craw of just about any police officer. You might accuse me of being hypersensitive here, but after years and years of real injustices committed against law enforcement in the arena of public opinion, I've grown to be sensitive to such issues. And dare I be so bold to hazard a guess, I believe I speak for many in the Brotherhood of Arms on this matter.
Most people do not devour a newspaper cover to cover and word for word, but rather glean their news (and oftentimes form their opinions) based on reading of a full piece here, scanning of an article there and, yes, breezing over sundry headlines w/o reading for content.
I can only imagine that an indefinite number of Omaha World-Herald readers will scan the article's title as they look for something they're more interested in and say to themselves, "Damn cops. Seems you read about one of them getting in trouble nearly every day anymore."
…and with that, damage done.
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Note: No use or reproduction w/o express permission of author and only then with full credit given in reprint. E-mail Sgt. Baker at opdsgt@yahoo.com
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