Let’s get a few things straight:
• You don’t tug on Superman’s cape.
• You don’t spit into the wind.
• You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger.
• And you don’t question police expenditures.
Well, hold on a second. I want to push back a little on that last one. But before I do, a little background:
We ran two stories this week (one on today’s front page) on how much it cost taxpayers to send 50 law enforcement officers to Tacoma to be part of a memorial service for officers killed in that area.
They rang up quite a tab.
The local agency spending the most money was the Vancouver Police Department. It cost Vancouver taxpayers $20,000 to send 19 staffers.
We had asked for — and received — the cost information and ran a pretty straightforward story earlier this week on the expense.
As soon as we posted the story on http://www.columbian.com, the comments section under the story lit up.
Suffice it to say, it caught readers’ attention.
Some thought the expense was fine. Others thought it was a waste of money.
It was getting so much attention, we decided to run an unscientific poll on the topic.
The votes on that poll lit up, as well. More than 800. One of our largest vote totals. And most voters said we spent too much money to go to the memorial.
What’s our role?
For the most part, the debate our story generated on our Web site was good and fair. As mentioned, both sides were represented.
But as part of the debate, there were those who questioned our even doing the story.
And to that I’d have to say, “Huh?”
Any good newspaper would track how taxpayers’ dollars are spent.
But what about the police department? Shouldn’t we be treating them in a special way?
No, not really.
We respect and are grateful for the work law enforcement does. But that doesn’t give police — or anyone — a pass when it comes to spending taxpayers’ money.
And to be clear, raising the question doesn’t mean the newspaper has somehow concluded it was a bad decision to spend that money. We raised the question so the community could decide what it thought of spending that kind of money.
In today’s follow-up story, the police chief, the city manager and the mayor all say they felt comfortable with spending that kind of money.
Fair enough. Some folks will agree with them and some won’t.
But agree or disagree, why are some folks sensitive to even reporting how much was spent?
The comment usually goes like this:
“These guys put their lives on the line for us every day. Give them a break!”
Yes, they do! Still, open societies need to be allowed to raise questions.
When we do a stories like this, we also hear:
“Let’s see what happens the next time you call 911.”
What a terrible thing to suggest about law enforcement.
These men and women are professionals. They understand how our society works and how the media in our society works. That doesn’t mean they all would agree with our stories. But they’d agree that it is what we do.
Not making friends
This isn’t to say reporters don’t feel pressure when a story like this is done.
“I don’t think I made any friends over there,” is a common response.
My retort? “I’d love it if everyone loved us. But that’s not our goal. We have to bring information to our readers and let the chips fall where they may.”
Lou Brancaccio is The Columbian’s editor. Reach him at 360-735-4505 or lou.brancaccio@columbian.com.
