The Chronicle

January 22nd, 2008

Durham police hard to reach

As someone who has written for The Chronicle for three years, I think I have had the opportunity to speak to someone from the Durham Police Department once or twice. And even those encounters have been brief, “I’ll call you back when I find more information,” phone calls. I have received a police report once from them. The communications officer works Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., sharp, or so it seems. Every time I attempt to contact the police department, be it via phone or e-mail, I have to leave a message, which I can say with much confidence, will remain unanswered. Or it will be answered just a couple days too late.

About 10 days ago, a Duke student was robbed at gunpoint near East Campus. As the campus newspaper, we of course started reporting right away. I attempted to contact DPD officers as soon as I heard the news to secure an interview Sunday and I did the same for Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs. Moneta wrote back a few hours later, detailing the best way to contact him, and he was able to give us and our readers some insight into what the University was doing in our Monday issue. But DPD officers remained silent.

I did not get a reply from them until Monday, and it was to inform me that they had processed my request for a police report and would get back to me (which they never did). They also told me that “neither of us [the public information officer and the public relations coordinator] is on duty on the weekend, except in emergencies. Generally we handle media requests Monday through Friday 9 to 5 p.m.” So where can we get information regarding crimes over the weekend?
Do we not need that information just because it’s not a work day or regular office hours?

The Duke and Durham communities need to be informed regarding crimes that are committed in the Bull City. I understand that everyone needs a break from work. But in comparison, we have been able to reach administrators over weekends when tragic incidents like those of this weekend have occured. The Duke University Police Department spared us a few moments of their time Monday afternoon – on Martin Luther King Jr. day (a national holiday), nonetheless. It would just be nice to know that the police department was working hard to keep us updated on crimes, even during weekends and after hours.
-Jiajia Zhang

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 am and is filed under Editor's Blog, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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