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Bumfketeer	Post subject: Descriptions in police/crime stories Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 4:49 pm
Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2002 1:01 am Posts: 3557 Location: Cusp of retirement, grave or both	I am caught in the middle of another flap over the use of what passes for descriptions of suspects in crime stories. I have been deleting descriptions that are of no use at all. For example, a few days ago a reporter wrote that cops were seeking "two white males," three words that were soon swallowed whole by Mr. Delete Key. Of what possible use could that "description" be? Even if the description is a wee bit more fleshed out -- "police are looking for a 5-foot-10 black male" --- what possible good does that do? There are thousands of people fitting that description in our coverage area. And what good does even giving the information at all do? Let's say the guy jimmied open a door at a restaurant at 4 a.m. and ran from cops when they arrived. What are the odds that a reader just happened to be nearby and will phone in a tip? Of course, these descriptions are useful when there is something remarkable...such as a local guy who was arrested in a murder investigation based on the actually useful info that he has a tattoo of Satan on his forehead. What do you think? What does "your" paper do?
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