OUR VIEW: To those who make the Police Blotter possible
At The Statesman, we’re all about keeping neighborhoods safe, helping old ladies cross the road and saving cats caught in tall trees – you know, superhero stuff.
We feel part of our responsibility as journalists is to publish the Police Blotter in the paper, which can usually be found in the first few pages in Monday’s edition. This way, readers can witness the abundance of crime happening on campus. If you’ve read the Police Blotter, you will understand that was a joke.
However, some of the things we find ourselves publishing make us laugh and often make us scratch our heads.
For example, in the March 26 Police Blotter, one entry reported, a concerned “citizen” phoned the police wondering why people were walking around campus dressed in military-type attire and carrying weapons. The citizen was informed of the Humans vs. Zombies game, but the citizen “objected to this type of game … and advised police of some of his concerns.”
Though we fully support complainants who have issues with nerdy games of tag, it is comical how frequently we see this type of report. Do the police have better things to do? Guess not.
One report stated: “USU police responded to a suspicious incident at the Sci-Tech portion of the Merrill-Cazier Library involving a man in one of the women’s restrooms. Police are investigating.”
It is probably acceptable for children under the age of three to frequent the wrong restroom while accompanied by a parent, USU students are all old enough to know the difference between the male and female icons on bathroom entryways.
Another report from March 19 states: “A student placed some personal items in a car in the Big Blue Terrace and after contacting a friend who the student believed owned the car, the student realized the items had been placed in the wrong car.”
Really, people? We see a number of problems with this. Most prominently, who doesn’t lock their car? This behavior is almost an invitation for thieves. Secondly, if someone wants to leave their valuables in a vehicle, the intelligent – and obvious – thing to do is make sure someone knows who owns the car and could potentially drive off with the valuables.
There have been countless times when police have responded to suspicious smells in apartments or alarms that were accidentally set off by small children. Almost every time these things are detected, you can bet nothing is the matter. The classic is the curling iron/hair dryer fire – we’ve learned just how touchy residence hall smoke alarms can be.
We love Police Blotter entries, not only because they are hilarious but because we are reassured of the safe environment our community provides. While the news section is often difficult to fill, partially due to a lack of crime, we’d rather not live in a city with soaring rape and murder statistics.
Props to you, responsible citizens of Logan; way to do your part in using public service officials – even if you are sometimes overreacting.