Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 21, 1995 TAG: 9502210042
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Blacksburg Police Department recently put out such a description on the man suspected of robbing a Domino's Pizza last month.
The description tells enough details to - Hold it!
That's my colleague, Brian Kelley, sitting right across from me.
Well, sure he's wearing a tie and khakis now, but I've seen him in jeans and dark jackets before. He's got brown hair, and is of medium height and build.
Did he do it?
Of course not.
But the point is, the description just about fits him. As it could thousands of men in the New River Valley.
Recently the newspaper received a phone call asking why descriptions of suspects weren't placed in stories. Part of the question pertained directly to why race wasn't mentioned.
The race angle also arose after the shooting of Christiansburg Police Officer Terry Griffith last September after he tried to arrest a shoplifter outside of Hills Department store. Why wasn't the killer's race made known, it was asked.
In short, because the newspaper believes it's not relevant in many cases.
The thinking is this:
When police departments release a suspect's description to the media, their information - generally drawn from a victim whose main priority probably was staying alive rather than garnering precise details of the suspect - is often vague. "Medium height, medium build" - that doesn't go very far in singling out a person.
It's not the police department's fault. It's generally just what they have to go on.
If a suspect's description is precise enough - whether through the identification of tattoos, a scar on the face, precise knowledge of clothing or something else - to specifically identify the person, the newspaper will print that description in its entirety, including the suspect's race.
But if the description is too general to be of significant use, race will not be mentioned.
When generalized descriptions are passed to the media, which has the power to publicize the matter, there are other responsibilities to consider. That is, to avoid creating undue suspicion, even hysteria, in the community. The newspaper is also concerned about buttressing racist-toned views through generalities.
We want to inform, but in a society that, unfortunately, has a tendency to acquiesce too easily to stereotypes, the mere mention of race in a criminal case often has far too much bearing on people's views than it deserves.
For the record, when the Blacksburg Police Department first notified this newspaper about the Domino's robbery, its description of the suspect was a bit different than one it released later. The first release identified the suspect as 25-35 years old, 5-foot-9 inches and 180 to 200 lbs., with brownish blond hair, wearing the black cap and dark jacket. The newspaper ran the description in a brief news article, not mentioning the race. The second release contained a vaguer description - reported in the first sentence of this column.
The question of whether to note race in a story is a subjective matter, but we do our best to get it right.
When it comes to the Griffith case, the reasoning is even simpler. Whether the shoplifter turned murderer was black or white did not matter. And, he was not on the loose. He was dead, killed later by Christiansburg officers.
Had the newspaper been able to gather a timely picture of the killer, it would have run it. It was unable to.
Printing a basic description of him - or satisfying the bordering-on-bigoted needs of some by citing his race - would have had no meaning.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***