The Hoffman Protests

The ongoing story about Rachael Hoffman in Tallahassee has me missing that town for the first time. That probably sounds strange but what I miss is taking my little tape recorder out and doing stories for the radio. If I was there now, I would certainly pick up some press credentials and be all over this case. All hyperbole aside, I was damn good at interviewing people and I think uniquely able to get under the skin of the TPD.

There are many examples of this. One, when they started the now famous "party patrol" I was the only sceptic in the city. I remember taking a new journalism student with me for an interview with the TPD spokesman about this new program to cruise the city looking for private parties to bust up. Of course we sat there and politely listened to the spiel about how the "party patrol" would lower noise and the improve quality of life in Tallahassee. When he exhausted that line of PR I went in for the kill. I asked how many officers were involved in the Party Patrol, were they being paid overtime, and just what the dollar figure was for having hundred of cops looking for house parties. The spokesman dodged the question for a good half hour while I simply repeated the questions over and over. She didn't want to tell me and I wasn't going to be denied this public information. Needless to say the student with me was impressed when the spokesman finally called in a bookkeeper and figured out, probably for the first time ever, the astronomical price of this preemptive policing program.

The second example was at a press availability at City Hall. I think the story was about the break up of a protest that turned a little ugly when it was discovered that the cops were secretly taping protesters. I was with the college station at the time and all the mainstream media went first with their lame questions. They asked what the situation was and dutifully took notes as the police spokesman's told his tale. At the time, I noticed that there were a couple people in the corner of the room with video cameras taping us in the media! I walked right over to the cameramen who were trying to blend in with the rest of the media, with my microphone, (which can be an impressively powerful weapon) and asked the cameramen who they were and why there were there. One foolishly admitted he was with the police department (although disguised as the media). I then quickly and loudly asked the name of the officer who ordered them to tape us, how frequently this was done and where we could look at any tapes from months and years past. Well the spokesman ran over from his spot, stopping the press conference in mid-sentence and ushered the cameraman away from me and my little microphone and out of the room alltogether. In the next week the rest of the media picked up the story.

I am a supporter of law enforcement, don't get me wrong. Especially here in new York City, I see how their presence keeps things under control. But police departments have so much power that the checks and balances on their actions must be more thorough than almost any other government agency. Police departments these days are just terrific in manipulating the news media. They give them all the blood and guts they need to make their news shows exciting and the media looks the other ways as departments expand their budget, their powers and their discreet methods of supervising the American people. My hope is that this current case of Rachael Hoffman (who I did not know personally) finally opens the eyes of the media and the public to the abuses that can occur when a law enforcement agency is allowed to grow and expand it's powers without the proper oversight by the media and the public.