What we have here is a failure to tell the whole story

I have an issue with this story, but on the main point, what happens is wrong.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/01/civil-forfeiture-south-carolina-police-property-seizures-taken-exclusive-investigation/2716045002/

My issue is found in this quote:

“It just sort of reinforces an understanding we already knew — that black residents disproportionately come in contact with law enforcement given the way criminal justice policy is oriented in this country,” said Nicole Porter, spokeswoman at The Sentencing Project, a reform advocacy group.

TELL IT ALL

That is a correct statement, but it does not tell everything. The journalists writing this story did not tell it all.

Some years ago I did a study of calls to 911 for police assistance in the City of Ashburn. I split the City down Highway 41 and Highway 112 - quadrants.

Over six months the NE quadrant hand 1 call for law enforcement, a fight at the then-alternate school.

The SW quadrant accounted for nearly 75 percent of the calls for law enforcement. The SE and NE quadrants had the remainder.

I'm willing to bet you that LEAs are called to certain neighborhoods far more often in any given community than in other neighborhoods.

THEY ARE CALLED

The greater point which is not discussed is: Police go where they are called. They meet with people who call them. This is results in massively disproportionate contacts with law enforcement. This is NOT discrimination. This is law enforcement simply responding to calls.

It also follows that LEAs will make more arrests where they spend the most amount of time. They will make the most arrests from the pool of people they deal with the most.

That is not complicated.

Complaining and trying to draw racial inferences from this is like complaining nursing homes have most elderly and ill people as residents. It is true, but the base reason for this is not discrimination.

MORE TO IT

Not saying some people are profiled and targeted. This does happen. As the report points out, a certain group of people is stopped for traffic violations more often than others. This definitely smacks of being wrong. I wonder if there is more to it.

I've done ride-alongs with police officers. I cover law enforcement regularly. I know profiling happens. At the same time where the traffic stops are discussed, I just wonder what the whole picture has to show. I am reminded of the story of three blind men and the elephant. One described the elephant as long, muscular and strong. He had the trunk. Another said no, an elephant is round, solid and thick like a tree. He had a leg. The third said no, the elephant is short and somewhat stiff with coarse hair like a heavy hemp rope. He had the tail. Certainly, the court system is harsher to a segment of the population compared to other segments. That is flat wrong. Rich people get off much lighter than poor people when hauled into court.

REPORTING

The story does make a backhanded attempt at addressing the whole situation at the end of the report. It's pretty pathetic reporting too. "One police official said..."

One officer. One department. Stacked against in-depth research covering the entire state.

Is there more to this story? Betcha. Will the reporters cover it? Probably not. The resources and effort that went into this story were massive and I seriously doubt there was a return on investment. S. Carolina media simply does not have the money to invest in this kind of reporting on a regular basis, so we are stuck with a partial story.

IT IS WRONG

On the whole, the asset forfeiture as discussed in this story is flat wrong. It is nothing more than theft by government. Exactly the same as taxes. I really see no difference between the two. If you do, please explain.

Some help for the journalist

The Society for Professional Journalists is actually doing something useful.

For once. 

This is like using a belt-fed machine gun to hit a pie plate target at 1,000 yards. Sling enough lead and you're bound to hit the target, eventually.

Anyway, the SPJ is hosting a conference on stress and journalism March 9 in Savannah.

Some topics on the agenda:

• Are you having a hard time handling the stress of burnout?

• Do you need resources to help a colleague that is having a difficult time?

• Did you have a hard time processing the trauma of a crime scene or disaster?

• Are you afraid of the stigma of asking for help, to share your emotions?

• Do you need to know that you are not alone in how you are feeling and it's okay?

• How can we support ourselves as journalists?

In case you don't wonder, I answer:

Sometimes Sometimes Sometimes Sometimes Sometimes #1 thing - quit being flaming infected hemorrhoids toward each other.

IT'S A ROUGH JOB

Coming up through the ranks many years ago I was told journalists suffer an unusually high level of alcoholism compared to other industries. I no longer believe that to be as true. https://www.businessinsider.com/most-alcoholic-jobs-2011-10

Journalism is rough though. As I remember, France dictates a month of vacation for professional working journalists because of the stress. But France does a lot of things that make me wonder.

I don't know of any other career that has the same kinds of stress-inducers. Certainly, other professions have their share and many overlap. ER workers, law enforcement, and fire, EMS, dispatchers come to immediate mind. Some less-expected professions that have some of the same major stresses are minister or preacher, politician, human resources. You can probably add many more to this.

But journalism stands unique. Only journalists are called on to be in any profession at any time. We can spend one day being a police officer, another day as a commercial fisherman and yet another day as a funeral director. Good journalists try to understand the people we write about and that means learning what they do and how they do it. Sometimes it means hands on. It always means observation.

At the same time, journalism is unique because at the end of the day, we get to walk away from that job and move on to something which may be a polar opposite. Whether we can actually leave that temp job is another matter entirely. The rough stuff stays with us. The good stuff stays too, but the bad parts are more durable.

On any given day a journalist can see the very worst humans can do to each other and then all the way to the very best. Then, we have to process that and present it to our audience. That kinda stuff sticks with a person.

Journalists also don't have a lot in the way of stress support. Example: Journalists can get PTSD. I have it. Unlike soldiers who have a support network, whether it is effective or not is beside the point, journalists do not have that (however effective) safety net. Soldiers have thousands of comrades who went through the same thing. Journalists may have a handful.

So thanks to the SPJ for finally doing something worthwhile. I seriously wish I could attend the conference, but it is not gonna happen. Y'all who do attend, I hope you are able to find a way to beat down those demons that haunt us all.