Police Logs

I don’t trust you won’t publish my email address. I mean,I drive past the Daily Independent parking lot and it’s full of cars. Right there says SOMEONE is signing their paychecks. But who and for what? I have some ideas on this. Men in black would take me away if I voiced them. As regards published,detailed police reports who would’nt want to read them? Don’t you want to know who’s warped in our area?

I have to wonder what is wrong with a local paper that is afraid to publish the truth about the town that we live in. It will definately lead me to not have any need to purchase the paper now or in the future.

And then there is the privacy issue, and court system issues, innocent until proven guilty and all that. I guess they would need to be worded very delicately, words like “allegedly”, “suspect” and so on. Still, those things could potentially ruin an innocent persons livelihood in a small town like this one.

Sandra, I hadn’t thought about that, you make a really good point.

What the local paper will or will not print is fast becoming a non issue.
To find what is wanted a frew clicks on a search engine should do .
Here is the link for RPD logs.
http://ci.ridgecrest.ca.us/police.asp?id=698

I feel you should post or print a police log. It would be helpful for me to know which neighborhoods have already been robbed so I don’t have to waste my time invading homes that have already been invaded.

Not sure why this changed over the years, if it actually did, because the Police always provided the information, allowed under the law being concerned to follow the release of information due to balancing the public need to know and the rights of the community, protecting the victims. I believe this is the stated policy of the Ridgecrest Police Department and Chief Avery.

It may have changed due to the local media spin, but I don’ believe so. I know some of the newspaper personnel also and I am a little concerned about some of the things I read.

I still know must of the persons working for the City and they are all very concerned about providing good public service. So editorial or not as a watcher of the City, maybe a sit down and discussion is in order to clear the air. Maybe it just the story being spined!.

Wow. And the DI wonders why people call it the “Daily Insufficient”. There should be no question whether you post police logs either on your website, or in your “newspaper”. Yes. Always “Yes!”

Your job is to publish the truth [which alot of times, for you translates to biased “truth”.

Missy: As far as not mentioning names of criminal adults, that’s just wrong. Only minors should have their names blocked from public eye. Adults know what they’re doing and should be fair game.

It really doesn’t matter if the paper prints up the doings of our crooked police dept. Lives will still be ruined either by slander or worse, (financially).

Until each of you so called good citizens of our community are falsely accused of some trumped up charges and put through the inhumane treatment of being arrested by our city police or even worse, (the Kern County Sheriffs Dept.) You can’t even begin to know how wrong it is for the DI to print such hearsay and sometimes complete slanderous Bull sh–!!!
If they feel the need to print the daily happenings and such involving our law enforcement agencies, perhaps they ought to print the entire police logs on a daily basis so you people can see who the real criminals are. I am a small business owner and one of many victims of the RCPD. An innocent Victim in which it has cost me $10.000 of my hard earned honest dollars just to be released from that hell hole we call the (Kern Co Jail) in order to start the long journey toward proving myself innocent of the police accusations and falsified evidence provided by one of our very own trusted police This has not only hurt my pocket book and my business but has also shattered my pride and my dignity. The people of this community used to look at me with assuredness and respect, now after reading that I was arrested in my own home nonetheless, for whatever the crime-they tend to shy away from me and I sometimes hear them whispering about me. Believe me when I tell you that the newspaper has no business printing about the arrests made by our law enforcement agencies. However if they must print about the crime in our city, perhaps they could print the actual arrests that result in a confession by suspect or by a jail or prison term. But not the everyday arrests by the police. Trust me, you would not want this to happen to you. And yes I believe that there should be a retraction and an apology given to each and every person the DI has ever put into this nasty little column they call (THE POLICE LOGS)

Sandra makes an excellent point in her assertion that a police log detailing the types of crimes in any area serves as a “Heads up” for people in that area but like you, Missy, I am from the old school of innocent until proven guilty and believe that peoples names on the log should be withheld. Unfortunately, our society seems to be of a “Where there is smoke, there is fire” mentality in many ways. If the police is called to John Doe’s address because of “domestic disturbance”, people will deside that John is a wife beater. If people want to see names in a log, maybe the DI should consider a “Court CONVICTION” log. (Just jking)

I do really like that idea, Missy. Uh….I ran out on a jaywalking ticket in 1969…I won’t show up on your list will I?

Keep the police log — it is one of the reasons why I would buy The Daily Independent — as it gives readers a general idea about where and what type of crime is being reported.

All information garnered by the police reporter should, and usually does, come from public sources such as the Ridgecrest Police Department blotter. Any citizen can read the police blotter which is posted at the police department.

Finally, all suspects listed in the police log are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Any police reporter does remember to use words such as suspect, charges filed, etc. which imply innocence.

And yes, a court log should also be instituted to follow-up on suspects listed in the police log. The Daily Independent would need to assign a reporter to cover both beats.

Mary Ash
former police reporter

The logs are public information. If the newspapers “mission” is to inform the public, why withhold this information? In my opinion, the complete logs should be published.

I laugh at the “ridgecrests most wanted ” list. Supposedly these are violent people? I know of someone who had picked up a prescription for a narcotic as a favor for an elderly person he was living with. He got stopped by RPD for having it (he was on his way home from the pharmacy). He was not arrested. Apparently he did not show up for a court date he was unaware of so he got listed as one of the “most wanted” of Ridgecrest. Well, he got arrested all right and spent about 7 days in jail till it all got straightend out. He was able to prove what was known already but to make an innocent person spend even 1 day in jail is wrong. He sure was violent wasn’t he!

The police logs are full of errors. I have had to talk to the police and when it was entered in the logs it showed that the police came to my house to arrest a juvenile for a traffic violation. So if they messed up so big on mine I assume it is always full of errors, plus it is never put up at a uniform time or uniform format.