Field Trip #3: Orient Road Jail

Our class visited the Orient Road Jail this week. The visit was an interesting experience to say the least.

Major Robert Lucas has over 30 years experience in the field and gave us a tour of the facility. We visited three main areas: the booking center, the holding area and the lockdown area.

In the booking center, all those arrested, be it for a misdemeanor or a felony, are together. Separation, Lucas said, is based on behavior.

Throughout the tour, Lucas mentioned this phrase: "Our way or the alternatives."

If an arrested individual acts on irritation or aggression toward an officer, for instance, he or she will be put into one of the holding cells on the side of the room. If that person is still acting out inside the holding cell--Lucas cited banging on the glass as one example--and they don't stop when an officer orders, he or she will be placed in a confining chair. The chair itself looks hard and uncomfortable, with straps for arms and legs, a helmet, and a face mask. The mask, Lucas said, would be used if the person is spitting at officers.

The media play a large part in how we perceive jail, so people who have never been arrested or even stepped foot inside a jail might be surprised by what they see. For example, there is no 'one phone call' policy. Assuming that an arrested person is cooperative with officers, he or she can make as many phone calls as needed.

There is also no strip searching by federal law. Instead, arrested people are put in a body orifice scanning chair. It acts as a full body X-ray and detects the presence of any metal on or in the body.

We also visited the holding and lockdown areas. In the holding area, there are no barred cell doors as seen in many films and television shows. There are numbered doors with small windows instead. It was very quiet, surprisingly so. A few of the prisoners were playing basketball outside, and others were cleaning or just milling around.

Unsurprisingly quiet was the lockdown area. All of the prisoners are in their cells all day and night, except for the times they shower, which is once a day.

Lucas let us know what our rights are with regard to the public records we can get. We can get anything in booking except medical records. This includes mug shots and incident reports. Access to property is available, too. Lucas said that officers take jewelry, watches, wallets and all other material things from an arrested person so that those possessions don't become a form of extortion. The police network this information throughout the state to find stolen goods. The property report becomes available to everyone. The jail is under constant surveillance and constant scrutiny, Lucas said. Reporters can access the surveillance videos, as well.

Overall, the tour was an interesting experience. The goal was to learn more about public records available to us. I think that goal was met. Lucas also enlightened us about the reality of jail and that what the media portray is not always accurate.

Field Trip #2: Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and Operations Center

We visited the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and Operations Center Sept. 16, and Public Information Officer J.D. Callaway showed us that there is a lot of information at our disposal in the form of public records.

Callaway is a University of South Florida alumnus and a former reporter for The Tampa Tribune, so he not only knows where to get public records, but also how to use them and mistakes that some reporters make when covering crime.

As he passed out hardcopies of public records (a news release, an individual's charge report, a criminal report affidavit and an incident report), Callaway told us how information is generally put out and gathered. Police start by putting out a news release, the timing of which depends on the circumstances of the crime or situation. Reporters can then pick up the suspect's mug shot and information. This is the individual's charge report. Reporters can also get a criminal report affidavit from the jail. Both a CRA and an incident report are not fully public record. Police must redact exempted information, but a reporter can get the public information if he or she asks for it.

Police will help reporters, he said, because they want the best story printed for the public, too.

However, the 'best' story may be difficult for reporters to write. As electronic media becomes more and more prevalent, reporters are faced with a conflict: verification versus speed. In 24-hour news networks, less value is being placed on verification and more is being placed on getting there first.

Some mistakes that reporters make can be a result of a work environment that demands speed. Callaway used an example concerning police scanners. If a reporter is listening to a police scanner, they are only receiving 30 percent of the information, which is not always accurate. The reporter could hear something, and he or she might have to put accuracy and verification on the backburner in order to break the story quickly and beat the competition.

Another mistake reporters may make is neglecting to pursue the information that is available to them. With such large workloads, reporters may forget to come back to the sheriff's office for the full report of a crime because they lose track of what documents they can get. Callaway cites search warrants as very valuable documents that reporters can get at the courthouse. In a search warrant, a reporter can see the angles that police are pursuing.

The tour of the office was an interesting experience. The part that stood out for me the most was walking through the dispatch center and noticing the amount of concentration employees must have when dealing with multiple computer screens and handling 911 emergency phone calls.

This trip was very beneficial. I learned more about public records and their availability with regard to crime reporting. I also gained a better understanding of how the police system works and the role that it plays in journalism.

Public Meeting #1: Traffic Calming on Field Lane

In Seffner, Fla., traffic control was the topic on the table Sept. 12 at 6:30 p.m. Hillsborough County held a public meeting to discuss traffic problems along Field Lane from S. Kingsway Road to its end, near the intersection of Wheeler Road and Kingsway Road in the Brandon area.

Jerry Depkoski led the meeting at the Evans Park Recreation Center and offered three options to concerned homeowners: 1.) They can decide to do nothing if they don't like the process, 2.) They can choose selective enforcement, which is police assistance and patrolling, or 3.) They can choose to implement traffic calming.

Traffic calming is the practice of putting devices on the road to slow down traffic or lessen the volume of traffic. Placing two to three speed bumps along the road is what the County Commission has offered.

They are the preferred devices for Field Lane, Deposki said, but citizens should be aware of the delayed reaction time for emergency vehicles.

Hillsborough County did a recording of the activity on the road March 26 and found that speed wasn't the problem (the average speed of cars passing by was 24 miles per hour); it was the volume of traffic.

If the homeowners choose option one, Hillsborough County will not come back to the issue for three more years.

If the homeowners choose the third option, traffic calming, the county will not implement it until spring. A petition will be made, and it will need a 75 percent approval. Also, it's required that 90 percent of the people in the area see it and that it's returned to the county in 90 days.

The majority of homeowners at the meeting preferred the third option, and the County Commission will take their opinions into consideration when a final decision is made.

Matt Doig: Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Matt Doig, an investigative reporter with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, talked to us about the importance of public records with regard to researching for investigative pieces. Doig knows how to make the most of the right we have to view public records and uses programs like Access and Excel to elevate his stories.

The beauty of database reporting, he said, is that it is comprehensive and statewide. Doig was even able to use Social Security numbers to research bus drivers' criminal records and to find out whether any of them had DUI offenses. He managed to get the numbers before a law was passed that required only the last four digits of the Social Security numbers of public officials to be released.

Doig also emphasized the benefits of having an inquisitive frame of mind. For example, Doig was curious about the archives at a police station. He asked an officer what the oldest piece of evidence was in the evidence locker. It was a rifle. Doig started researching it, found out about the unsolved murder of a family of four, and he wrote a story about it. Doig said he enjoyed having the opportunity to be a detective as he looked into this event.

Investigative journalism is something you think you may only find in large-circulation newspapers in big cities, like The Washington Post, The New York Times or the San Francisco Chronicle. However, Doig proved that investigative reporting can make a difference in small cities, too. If you want to distinguish yourself as a journalist, he said, public records must back up your facts. This is what will take a story from a news article to an in-depth, investigative piece.

Adria Gonzalez Harper: First Amendment Foundation

Adria Harper of the First Amendment Foundation spoke to the class about Florida public records and our right to view them. The FAF is a small, non-profit organization. It's workers are dedicated to enforcing our right to view public records and monitoring legislative activity.

Florida has long held a broad right of access. We have a consitutional right to access public records, whether it be e-mail, video, audio, paper documents or even Post-It notes. The FAF views public records as windows to the government. This is valuable not only to Florida citizens, but to non-locals as well. You don't have to be a citizen to access public records in Florida.
Because we have a broad right of access, there are many exemptions made. In fact, the members of the legislative branch of our government makes their own access laws, which means they are sometimes operating in the dark and avoiding the Sunshine Laws, even though the laws apply to all three branches of government.

The Sunshine Laws basically state that we have access to any public records or meetings, and public agencies must comply and let people access the records in a reasonable manner. A person can request a public record anyway they want to as long as it is a reasonable request. An agency cannot ask you to identify yourself and cannot require written requests.

One problem is that agencies are frequently charging inordinant fees. The only fee that agencies are allowed to charge is for making copies of documents and, again, it must be a reasonable amount.

Ms. Harper said that if we encounter a problem accessing public records, we should put it all in writing: the initial request, what happened and a request for the agency's public records and fee policy. Then, send it to the agency's leader(s). Contact the Office of Open Government or get mediation from the Attorney General's office if you need to.

A constitutional right of access is something that should be enforced, and we should not just roll over if an agency tries to deny us the public records we rightfully request.