Crime Covering Tips
Here are some general points to keep in mind when covering crime stories.
A suspect is someone police think may have been involved in the crime. The suspect may or may not be in custody (more often not). You should find out.
Once police investigate and are convinced the suspect was involved they turn the information over to the prosecutor. For most serious crimes this is the district attorney (the Douglas County DA is Christine Kenney — at least until November). The prosecutor files charges against the suspect. Police may only hold a suspect in jail for a limited time without the prosecutor filing charges.
After the DA files charges the suspect is arraigned in court. That means he/she makes an appearance before a judge and formally hears the charges against him/her. Usually the judge decides if the suspect will remain in jail or if he can get out on bond. If the latter, the judge will determine how much the bond is.
Later there will be a preliminary hearing at which a judge will hear evidence against the suspect and decide if it’s sufficient to warrant a trial. Assuming the defendant doesn’t plead guilty, there will be a trial and a jury (usually) will convict or acquit him/her.
We usually do not identify suspects before they are actually charged, although there may be some exceptions. When covering police briefings, always get the names of the suspects even though we probably won’t include them in the story.
When you write crime stories, do not convict suspects or defendants before the jury does! Any time you write about what the suspect/defendant supposedly did, be sure to attribute it to the police, prosecutor or other appropriate authority, or to the actual charges filed against him/her. However, try to avoid use of the term “allegedly.” It’s much better to attribute the allegation to a specific source.