Police defend use of fake new release

This happened in my area, and the paper I work at was directly affected, though the link is to the local TV station's news site.

Santa Maria Police defend use of fake news release

The gist is that the police issued a release earlier this year that they arrested two people on an identity theft scam, and then they were turned over to local immigration officials and deported. Now the police are saying the guys were never charged or deported, but held in protective custody because they were targeted to be killed by rival gang members.

At the time, of course, our paper and the other news affiliates ran the story, and then ran the story this week about it being fake, just for full disclosure.

Obviously, the police will justify this by saying it saved two people's lives, but this still puts the local media in a bad spot with readers/viewers, even though they thought the story was legit when it ran.

I just wanted to see the board's take on all this. The police say this is the first time they've done this sort of thing. I'm actually on vacation this week, so I haven't had the chance to get anyone's insight at the office.

Has anything else dealt with this sort of thing? Is it a little more common than I think? I've been at this paper for 13 years, and this is the first time I've seen something like this happen here.

 

This is the most shocking part of the article:

Our managers appreciate the hard work of the Santa Maria Sun which will have an in-depth article on this in an issue in early December.

 

I can't imagine there's a good reason why they needed to lie about it instead of just withholding it.

 

It's to get the other gang members to think the guys are out of the country and not worth looking for anymore, right? That part makes sense.

 

I would think defense attorneys are taking note.

"Your department admitted putting out a fake news story. How do we know you didn't fake the evidence that says my client killed the deceased?"

 

But they were already in protective custody. Just STFU from there and everything should be fine.

 

If the gangs think they're somewhere in the system, they'd go looking for them, and probably find them.

 

Worked for Trump.

 

So lie to everyone else but shut the fuck up through official channels like the media.

Kind of like undercovers do.

 

I'm guessing the media is finding out all about this after the fact. Because I can't think of any outfit that would agree to doing this purposely.

 

It's not a smart idea, and it feels like these small-town cops are taking lessons from movies, but I can understand the intent.

 

Yes, the arrest was made in February and the media found out about it this week. I can't imagine my editors agreeing to be complicit in something like that.