A Trip to JAIL!

Our class attended the Orient Road jail on this past Tuesday. Although I was not in attendance, I did hear that the encounter was enjoyable, informative and one to remember. Many of my colleagues expressed the fact that they were surprised when taken to the booking section. They painted a mental picture of orange jump suit-wearing inmates sitting around...not even in cells! There were television sets and some inmates were on the phone!

The average population of the Orient Road Jail in 2007 was 1,631 inmates. Sometimes the number of inmates in the jail at any given time exceeds the amount of inmates the facility is designed to hold. This may lead to some inmates using cots on the floor of pods. The jail's population changes are tracked closely so that renovations can be done if necessary. In order for changes to modify the facility to be considered for approval, they must be thought out five years in advance.

When reviewing the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Department of Detention Services Population Summary for 2007, something really interesting to me was the statistics...they were eye-opening but not TOO shocking if I really think about it. The statistics show that in 2007, 42.2% of the average daily population of inmates was African American males! This is truly sad. This kind of makes me think that racial profiling has much to do with this number. Yes, I know that when people commit crimes they should get punished, but if an officer is waiting around in black neighborhoods to find something wrong or pulling over someone just because they have dreads or dark skin (but they haven't committed any traffic violations), of course they will eventually find something. Many African American males are arrested for long periods of time for drug trafficking. Don’t get me wrong, trafficking is against the law, but there are some people who MURDER people and get the same amount of time as a drug-trafficker; I just don’t see the similarity.

On Tuesday our class went to the Hillsborough County Sherifff's Operations Center in Ybor City. We received a tour and important information concerning public records related to law enforcement. Our main speaker was former University of South Florida graduate J.D. Callaway. He is often the spokesman for the sheriff's office.

Callaway spoke extensively about public records in our meeting. Once again, PUBLIC RECORDS was an important aspect of our meeting.

There are numerous important public records that can be obtained through law enforcement. As explained by Callaway, many of these documents are being made available electronically. Callaway stated that one of the most common public records is a document related to law enforcement.

Many may not know, but arrest records are considered a public record and may be accessed by anyone. If an individual is looking for arrest records in Hillsborough County, one may go on the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office's website: www.hcso.tampa.fl.us. One can access arrest records as far back as 5 years. If a record is not available online it doesn't mean that the person has never been arrested; the 5-year time span may have already passed.

Another important document that one might think is obtained through law enforcement is a search warrant. Search warrants are actually viewed through the courthouse, not the sheriff's office. A search warrant can include information such as (but not limited to): pictures, recordings, emails, witness testimonies, etc. Law enforcement is required to turn these records over to the courthouse within 10 days. Once that 10-day-window has passed, the documentation is readily available to the public at the courthouse.

A search warrant may be a very pertinent piece of documentation for a reporter to view. It can give one a "heads up" on which direction the investigation is going and provide the news outlet with an advantage over competition that may not have this information yet.

Public Meeting #1

I attended the Hartline board meeting on September 8th at 5:30 p.m. It was held at the county center on Kennedy boulevard. According to the interim vice chairperson Ms. Alison Hewitt, the hot topic of discussion at this public hearing/budget meeting would be the discussion of whether or not to increase the millage.

According to Ms. Hewitt, increasing the millage from the current .4 to a .5 would provide almost five million extra dollars in the budget. As far as citizens are concerned, it would add about five dollars more to everyone's tax bill. This millage increase would fund Hartline so the transportation system wouldn't have to lay off workers and could provide more rides to citizens.

Employee of Hartline Philip Hale, attends the Hartline meetings regularly and uses the transportation system to go to the office. He stated that his focus of the meeting would be the discussion of whether or not to buy 28 new buses ( the buses never officially got discussed in the meeting).

During the meeting, the public was given an opportunity to voice their opinion pertaining to the millage change. What I found most peculiar is that before each individual came before the committee to speak their mind, they talked about how disappointed they were because all of the board members weren't in attendance. It sounded as if this happens frequently.

Most of the citizens who spoke in the public hearing portion of the meeting felt that increasing the millage to .5 would be a reasonable decision and not too much of a burden on the citizens.

Hartline CFO David Persaud provided a financial breakdown at a millage of .4682, .4853, and .5000. He stated that he is in charge of the budget process and the tax approval process.f

The committee finally agreed to accept the millage at .4682 for the moment. They decided to make their final decision at the next meeting. Commissioner Al Higginbotham did not agree to the decision because he wanted to see a more thorough breakdown of the effect the increased millage would have on the budget and where the money would be spent. The statutes allowed them to proceed this way.

David Persaud agreed to provide a more thorough breakdown at the next meeting.

A copy of the budget was provided, and there was a motion passed to adopt the current budget. Per Alison Hewit, the statute requires the board to hold at least one public meeting per year to discuss the budget.

There was much valuable information provided in this public hearing that concerns me and people I know. It was encouraging to see citizens at the meeting who apparently know that they have a right to be there!

Investigative reporting

Our meeting with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune's investigative reporter, Matt Doig, was very informative. He provided us with numerous detailed accounts of his professional life as an investigative reporter. From the information I gathered in class, investigative reporting seems to be very time-consuming and extensive but also very enlightening and exciting.

Although he has a print background, I can still relate his tasks to my future field of work (broadcast). In my opinion, investigative journalism is one of the most important types. This type of journalism really delves into deeper layers of matters, subjects, people, etc. The average citizen may receive information from a source and just take it for what it is; investigative reporting digs deeper...it searches to prove or disprove the truth that citizen just took for face value. Investigative journalism is informative for citizens who may not have to time to devote to seeking the truth, or who may not know how to go about seeking the truth.

One of my favorite types of investigative journalism on t.v. is the "To Catch A Predator" series. It exposes these shameful people who would have otherwise gone on with the same unacceptable behavior had it not been for investigative reporting.

Matt Doig did emphasize the importance of using those readily-available public documents. Public documents help support our findings and are necessary in any kind of reporting.

I learned a lot from our session with Matt Doig. Whether print or television, many of the same rules apply. One of the major commonalities is that we as journalist need to check our facts. We have so many resources to use, such as: datatbases, public records, personal accounts, etc. It's our job to get the story to the audience:)

The presentation by Adria Harper from the First Amendment Foundation was very resourceful. There are so many rules and regulations regarding the Sunshine Law and public records. It's good to know the ins and outs of  law concerning one's rights so that an agency won't deprive you of information that is supposed to be readily available.

Each person has the right to attend public meetings and access records in Florida.

Article 1 section 24 of the Constitution grants one the right to access public records. One doesn't have to be a citizen to access public records in Florida, just a person. Under Chapter 119, any document that is made or received in regards to public business is considered a public record. One can actually request to see a draft.

A public record can be requested in various ways. One can request a public record by walking into an agency or office, by telephone, or any other way. An agency doesn't have to be provided with an explanation of why public record is requested. The agency may in fact ask one to fill out a form though.

Although there are generally no fees for accessing public records, agencies can charge 10 cents per copy.

Whether one wants to become a reporter or is just an involved citizen of his or her community, it is vital to know what one can and can not find out about. Many agencies try to test one's knowledge by giving them false information.