Trooper Story Questions

The recent news of allegations against several Troopers brings alot of questions to the media's coverage.

On Monday December 11th the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office confirmed on their website that they were conducting a criminal investigation into an alleged sexual assault in which one or more of the suspects was a Trooper. The three sentence release just opened up pandora's box. I can not say I have seen other law enforcement agencies put out such a release before. I also dont know under what law OPRA, Executive Order 69, or any other law that a suspect is identified by his job prior to charges.

Then at 11pm WPVI the ABC affiliate out of Philadelphia has the entire story including the victim's college, the rank of the officers involved and a picture of the house where the incident took place. The Star-Ledger and Trenton Times followed the next several days. In each case they kept identifying where the victim attends school and the positions the Troopers held.

The media is doing no one a service with their reporting. It does not matter where you stand on the story, right now the reporting is bad for all involved. The victim has had her identity partly disclosed with no justification. If you have a 25 year old female friend who is a graduate student at Rider University and goes to Kat Man Du nightclub there is a good chance she was the victim. The Troopers have had their agency, their jobs, and their home all provided to the media - without a single charge.

This has all the making of the Atlanta Olympic Bombings media fiasco. Lets not all print whatever our sources are providing without checking the agendas behind the stories. I guareentee you that whatever is the end result, the woman, the Troopers, and the public are not better served by the reporting.