Last week, I got a tip that late at night an intoxicated Fall River police officer forced his way into a home by mistake, thinking it was his home. Since the Fall River Police Department doesn’t respond to our inquiries anymore as pay back for reporting on their Chief, I called Mayor Coogan to ask him about it. He was unaware of the situation, but said he’d look into it and call me back. A few minutes later he called me back and said it was true and they would send out a press release to the press. I asked him for the information first since it was my scoop and he told me instead they would send out the details to all media at the same time instead. I was disappointed, but what could I do? I waited for the release, but was shocked to see other news outlets publishing my story. I never received the release.
The Fall River Police Department sent out the information to the press, but excluded the Fall River Reporter. The City of Fall River and their police department has become so petty they now take any scoops I send to them and send the information to other news outlets. Here’s a screen capture of outlets reporting our scoop.
When City leadership and their police department restrict information to the largest news source in the city, the public loses. If a police department’s leadership is willing to take a scoop and send it to other news outlets as payback or retribution, what are they willing to do to people without a large voice like Fall River Reporter?
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