| Chapter 1
The
Crime Beat: Resources
By
Dave Krajicek
Introduction
The Internet has been a boon for journalists seeking expert sources
(and for experts seeking journalists). In many cases, a 60-second
computer search has replaced what might have been a frustrating
afternoon on the phone to divine a name and contact information
for a single expert.
But the proliferation of Internet sourcing is not without cost.
Keep in mind:
- Some crime journalists have been burned by failing to confirm
the credentials or to consider the motivations of eager "experts"
who may have a financial or ideological stake in a particular
position.
- Journalists can be seduced by experts with a reputation as
a "good quote" – a phrase that crops up frequently
in criminal justice source recommendations on the CJJ discussion
list. What is the source's motivation? Is the source substantive,
reflective, accurate and reliable or merely a hip-shooting, publicity-seeking
quote machine?
- Journalists seem to increasingly return to the small pool of
national criminology sources for quotes on crime trends or statistics.
Homegrown local or regional sources may have more nuance and context
than some of the national war-horse sources.
Overall Reference
Here are several good compilation sites:
- The Journalist's Toolbox (http://www.journaliststoolbox.com),
managed by journalist and former Northwestern University instructor
Mike Reilley, includes some 15,000 links, from the sublime to
the silly. Choose from a list of "beats" (http://www.journaliststoolbox.com/newswriting/crime.html).
The sheer number of links can be overwhelming, and Reilley would
do well to eliminate the goofy celebrity crime links and other
superfluous fluff. But the links include some gems, such as rapsheets.com,
which for a small fee will search for a name in millions of criminal
documents. Spend an hour getting to know the links available.
- Criminal Justice Journalists (http://www.reporters.net/cjj/)
is a national association of crime, court and prison writers,
editors and producers.
- The website (http://www.policeforum.org)
of the Police Executive Research Forum, a national association
of law enforcement bosses from large cities and based in Washington,
D.C., has convenient links to most important criminal justice
agencies. PERF's site also has scores of web links to the departments
of its members, as well as research reports on topics such as
racial profiling.
- The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press website (http://www.rcfp.org)
offers several good tools for journalists, including a section
on access to electronic records and a helpful state-by-state guide
to shield laws and reporter privilege. The RCFP site offers information
on access to public and private property for journalists, as well
as a thorough FOIA primer. Its section entitled Tapping Officials'
Secrets offers a state-by-state information guide.
Other General
Sites
The website of Investigative Reporters and Editors (http://www.ire.org)
offers both free and for-sale publications of interest to journalists.
The IRE resource center has much to offer. Its vast archive of exceptional
examples of investigative journalism is a good resource, but its
searchable source guide, organized by beat, is not much help in
the crime realm.
Crime journalists might have better luck using a keyword search
on google.com or some other efficient search engine. Another possibility
is a legal expert service, such as http://www.findlaw.com.
The Poynter Institute maintains a web resource guide for criminal
justice at http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=1184.
The guide includes a number of recommended books and key sites.
Some college journalism departments maintain compendiums of sources.
One example is http://www.refdesk.com/jourtool.html,
compiled by Christopher Callahan of the University of Maryland College
of Journalism. (For crime topics, click on the first choice, A Journalist's
Guide to the Internet.) An online version of Columbia Journalism
Review's crime source guide is available at http://www.cjr.org/resources/crime2k/.
Larry Lopez, a former reporter who now conducts private investigations,
has distinguished himself as an Internet resource whiz. He recommends
a number of good criminal law sites:
- http://www.state.ma.us/cpcs/links/#CriminalLawMegaPages.
The site, compiled by a Massachusetts public defenders group,
uses the slogan, "A Non-Computer Lawyer's Guide to Investigation
on the Internet."
- http://www.llrx.com.
The Law Library Resource Exchange is a free site that provides
legal and library professionals with information on Internet research,
technology, resources and tools.
- http://www.crimelynx.com.
This private firm, founded by a Denver attorney, offers carefully
selected links for legal professionals.
- http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/cj.html.
The Florida State University criminology site includes scores
of links on both general crime themes and specific topics, such
as crime prevention and pornography.
Other Police
Organizations
- Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (http://www.calea.org).
The organization was established in 1979 by four major law enforcement
groups, International Association of Chiefs of Police, National
Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, National Sheriffs'
Association and Police Executive Research Forum.
- The International Association of Chiefs of Police (http://www.theiacp.org)
has a number of links that could be helpful to journalists.
- Regarding police wages and contracts, a number of consulting
firms offer information, including PolicePay (http://www.policepay.net),
based in Oklahoma City, and Labor Relations Information System
(http://www.lris.com),
in Oregon. The latter offers information on both police and firefighters.
The Oregon firm's annual wage survey is offered for sale, while
most policepay.net information is free.
Police Corruption
Academics
Some college and university web sites offer guides to faculty members
willing to serve as media sources. School PIOs also can be helpful.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, for example,
has a reputation for accommodating reporters. Many John Jay professors
have real-world experience in criminal justice. Visit http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/publicRelations/#Anchor-Colleg-36047.
A Michigan State University librarian has compiled an impressive
list of criminal justice links at http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/crimjust/crimjust.htm
ProfNet.com (http://www.profnet.com),
a web site that hooks up journalists with sources, is treasured
by some reporters and scorned by others. Some complain that its
electronic system of requesting a source is too cumbersome on deadline
and that sources frequently are slow to respond.
ProfNet once was populated by professors, but the name is misnomer.
ProfNet opened its source membership when it was acquired by PR
Newswire in 1996. Its sources now include academicians from 650
colleges as well as experts from 3,000 corporations, 1,000 non-profit
organizations and government agencies, and 1,200 public relations
agencies.
An electronic request form on the website allows you to post a
query. You may exclude certain sources – those who work in
government, for example. You also may note your deadline. Sources
may respond by e-mail, phone or fax.
White
Collar and Computer Crime
Here are four web resources:
- The U.S. Justice Department's website for computer crime is
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/
- The National White Collar Crime Center (http://www.nw3c.org)
in Richmond, Va., trains law enforcers to investigate white collar
crime. The site offers source contact information and research
papers.
- The High Technology Crime Investigation Association (http://www.htcia.org)
is a private firm based in Virginia.
- Stroz Associates (http://www.strozassociates.com),
a private firm in New York, is led by Ed Stroz, formerly of the
FBI's computer crime division.
Pay
Sources and Public Records
Many journalists swear by Lexis/Nexis (http://www.lexisnexis.com),
a fee service that offers media archives as well as a vast store
of public records.
Lexis-Nexis can be expensive, although it offers a variety of pricing
plans, including LexisONE, a legal database with nominal fees. A
less expensive option is Factiva (http://www.factiva.com),
a Dow Jones/Reuters firm that offers media archives and "global
content" for a modest annual subscription rate plus a fee for
each article downloaded.
Laws on electronic access to records vary broadly from one state
to the next. Dozens of firms (CourtLink, a division of LexisNexis,
is one example) will search public records for a fee.
An "e-government" movement may revolutionize access to
public records over the next few years. Already, some counties are
posting all court clerk's records. At the forefront is Hamilton
County, Ohio, in the Cincinnati area, where a county court clerk
has embarked on an aggressive campaign to post all records,including
tax liens, arrest warrants and bond postings, on a searchable website
(http://www.courtclerk.org).
Florida has mandated all official state documents be posted on the
Internet by 2006, although politicians have been hectored into stepping
back by banning postings of military discharges, death certificates
and family-court filings.
As journalists know, these court documents are available to anyone
who takes the initiative to visit the proper record repository.
But many court clerks are embroiled in debate over whether potentially
embarrassing records – for child support delinquencies, sex
offenses, drunken driving, bankruptcies and even traffic court –
should be easily accessed from remote computers, whether citizens'
or journalists'.
A number of sites offer links and background information on e-government
technology. Here are two: the Center for Technology in Government
at the University at Albany in New York (http://www.ctg.albany.edu)
and the National Center for State Courts (http://www.ncsconline.org).
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