We often receive criticisms from commenters and law enforcement officials about our policy in regards to printing the description of a suspect's race, and some may have been surprised today to see that we did include that piece of information in a story about an armed robbery in Ventura.

This was not a capricious decision, and I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss it.

The reason our policy is generally to avoid including race in suspect descriptions is we feel many descriptions are too vague to actually help people identify a suspect, and including race in a broad description can be more problematic than useful. We do include it, as we did in this case, when there is enough specific description to really narrow the field of possible suspects.

So, how do we think about the question of when race is a useful piece of information and when it is not?

Here's an example:

If a witness said he or she saw a white man of medium height and with a slim build walk into a store, that wouldn't narrow the field of possible suspects enough to merit the inclusion of race. It might contribute more to undue suspicion being placed on some of the thousands of people matching that description than to helping police arrest the perpetrator.

If, however, a witness described a white man with long black hair and a goatee, about 5' 11," 150 pounds and green eyes with a scar on his left cheek and wearing a button-down shirt and slacks, readers would have enough information to narrow the field of possible suspects to a much smaller group. In that case, race would be relevant and helpful because it is one part of a very specific description.

Now let's look at today's article about the robberies in Ventura:

Police said witnesses described the robber this way: A black man with dark eyes, who was about 30 years old, 6 feet 3 inches tall, 220 pounds and wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and black warm-up pants.

We decided that was specific enough and unique enough to include race in the article.

However, in two robberies in Ventura on March 27, witnesses described the suspects as men in their 20s with thin and medium builds wearing dark sweatshirts with dark shorts or pants. Race was included in that description but we did not publish it because we decided it was not specific enough. There could be thousands of men of a certain skin color in their 20s with a medium build, and even clothes don't narrow the field of potential suspects that much.

One reason we are cautious about printing racial descriptions is that there are potentially negative ramifications of using race as a descriptor. Unlike, say, height, race is not a hard and fast descriptor, and using it without other specific details could lead to profiling that negatively effects people and doesn't really help police, we believe.

Sometimes a person's ethnic background is relatively easy to identify, but sometimes not.
A large percentage of Ventura County's population is Hispanic, so it is relevant to look at some potential issues with using that word in a suspect description.

People of hispanic descent could have roots in North America, South America or Europe (remember, the word indicates of Spanish or Latin American descent), and they can have skin tones that can range from white to black.

For some examples of how different hispanic people can look, take a look at pictures of President Felipe Calderón of Mexico, President Evo Morales of Bolivia, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain.

Ask yourself, if you saw Zapatero or Calderón on the street (without an entourage), would you say they were white or hispanic?

If you saw Morales or Chavez on the street, would you know at a glance that they are latino and not, say, pacific islander or south Asian?

These are challenging questions, and I pose them to explain why we are cautious about the situations in which we include race in crime stories.

Another bit of back story has to do with the way stories are picked up by other media outlets.

The day after we published our story about the tragic pit bull attack, we got calls from three television stations asking if they could share the photos Katya Todesco's family gave us, and if we could help them contact the family.

To protect the privacy of our sources, our policy prohibits us from sharing contact information or photos provided to us without a source's express permission.

I passed on the requests to Mrs. Todesco, and while she said she and her husband weren't ready to talk any more, she gave us permission to share the photos.

Here's one that didn't make it into our paper, partly because it's large and partly because I didn't know where or exactly when it was taken. (However, Mrs. Todesco said all of the photos shared with us were recent.)

Many times when we report stories, we learn interesting details that don't end up in an article, either because there's no space for them or because they just don't fit.

This was the case with the story of the tragic pit bull attack in Simi Valley last week that killed 5-year-old Katya Teresa Todesco.

After I first learned the girl's name on Monday, I found a number for the family and called. (Cold calling grieving families is never something I like to do, but it's a part of the job. I simply do my best to be as respectful as I possible can.)

The first number I found for a Todesco family turned out to be the right one.

I spoke to Katya's family and, understandably, they weren't ready to talk to a reporter. They said they might be willing to share photos with us, and I left them my e-mail address and phone number in case they changed their minds.

Later that day, Katya's mother, Katia, called me to express concerns that the short story we had on the web was wrong. I explained that the descriptions of the tragic incident I had came from the police, and she agreed to speak with me to set the record straight.

I was only able to include part of what Katia Todesco told me in the article, so I wanted to tell some of the back story here.

Mrs. Todesco said she called because our first web story reported that police said it happened at her home, and she said that was not accurate. She said her family doesn't even own dogs, and that they were at a friend's house when the tragedy occurred. (We were not able to clear up the discrepancy Monday afternoon, so we had to report both her version and the police's version.)

I mentioned in the article that Todesco praised the doctors at Simi Valley hospital who, with the help of a blood transfusion, were able to revive her daughter. The girl lived for two more days at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

But we didn't have space to include the family's request that anyone who wants to help them donate blood in Katya's memory.

We mentioned that the Todesco family donated Katya's organs, but didn't have space to include the fact that her mother told me an organ donor flag given to her by the hospital was flying proudly outside their home as we spoke.

Yet another powerful detail that didn't make it into the story: Todesco works in a medical center, she told me, and some of her daughter's organs went to that same medical center.

I was relieved when I arrived at the office early this morning and did not hear about any crime or accident related deaths yesterday, partly because there have been five homicides in the last month.

Last Wednesday, Albino Ramirez, 26, of Casitas Springs was shot dead in Camarillo. His wife and young son were in the car, as was the suspected killer, who they knew. Investigators believe drugs played a role in the motive.

Last Monday, Tina Fuller, 39, of Oxnard was stabbed to death in Oxnard. Police arrested another woman, who was later released because a lack of sufficient evidence, authorities said.

On July 31, Jesus Elery Shinn, 29, of Port Hueneme was shot to death. His case remains unsolved.

On July 26, Linda Price, 67, of Thousand Oaks was found strangled at the apartments where she lived and worked. Police later arrested her 39 year old son, who they described as a transient.
 
On July 19, David Rodriguez Ruelas, 29, of Oxnard was stabbed to death in a crime police believe was gang-related.

Last year, the Ventura County Medical Examiners office tallied 19 homicides, the lowest number since the office began keeping track in 1974.

So far this year, 17 people were killed by others in the county's boarders.

That doesn't include local residents killed elsewhere, such as Pamela Fayed of Camarillo, who was stabbed to death in Century City.

Authorities have not made any connections between any of the cases.

As of today, arrests have been made in nine of the killings. In at least six of those, the victim knew the suspect. Four suspects are relatives of the victim.

The fact that many of the homicide suspects knew their victims is no surprise to police.

Here's a fact from the FBI's 2006 uniform crime report, which includes data from agencies throughout the country:

"In incidents of murder where the relationships of murder victims and offenders were known, 21.6 percent of victims were slain by family members, 23.1 percent were murdered by strangers, and 55.3 percent were killed by someone with whom they were acquainted."

Here's that page if you are interested in more facts:

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/offenses/expanded_information/homicide.html
 

It sits on a plastic shelf next to my computer, on its side because it gets better reception that way. It has a volume knob, a squelch knob, and a piece of paper taped on the top that reads: "Do not turn off."

The digital numbers on the screen race silently through frequencies until something happens somewhere, and then the scanner comes to life. An uneven chorus of static-filled snippets pop into the room, because none of the three scanners here seem to get exactly the same signals.

During the day, the chatter coming from the scanner stays largely on the edge of my perception. Today was fairly calm and I heard:

"Sixty-four is on scene."

"It's an unknown upstairs apartment."

"The contractions are now five minutes apart."

"Subjects behind Hampshire Jewelers."

"First floor motion alarm."

"3 Adam 11 advise status."

"Possible domestic heard only."

"Resident ... said her three grandchildren were smoking marijuana in front of the house."

The scanner is an interesting window onto the jobs police, firefighters, paramedics and dispatchers.

From the piercing morning tone tests to calls being dispatched for everything from heart attacks to standoffs, the scanner speaks about the smorgasbord of public safety in fleeting, code-filled sound bites.

In the newspaper office, we're listening for keywords, for the steady-voiced dispatchers to say with their tone that something out of the ordinary is going on.

I'm training my ears for things like "body," "shots fired," "brush fire," "structure fire," "211" (robbery), "victim," and anything else particularly loud or strange.

When the scanner's quiet, I can relax -- a little.

The scanner is a tool, a friend, and sometimes a burden.

It always seems to squawk most when you're busy.

I can only imagine how it feels for those people whose voices I hear in snippets, and those who they call to and fro over the airwaves.

Like many fields, law enforcement has its own vocabulary, and it's one that often confuses outsiders.

Two words people often confuse are burglary and robbery. Many people use these words interchangeably or incorrectly, and, until I became a cops reporter, I was no exception. (During one of my police contacts helped me understand the difference.)

So what do robbery and burglary really mean?

The basic difference between burglary (penal code section 459), and robbery (211) is that burglary involves entering somewhere you're not supposed to be with the intent to commit a crime, and robbery is using force or fear to take personal property.

Lets look at the actual code sections:

459.  Every person who enters any house, room, apartment, tenement, shop, warehouse, store, mill, barn, stable, outhouse or other building, tent, vessel, as defined in Section 21 of the Harbors and Navigation Code, floating home, as defined in subdivision (d) of
Section 18075.55 of the Health and Safety Code, railroad car, locked or sealed cargo container, whether or not mounted on a vehicle, trailer coach, as defined in Section 635 of the Vehicle Code, any house car, as defined in Section 362 of the Vehicle Code, inhabited camper, as defined in Section 243 of the Vehicle Code, vehicle as defined by the Vehicle Code, when the doors are locked, aircraft as defined by Section 21012 of the Public Utilities Code, or mine or any underground portion thereof, with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony is guilty of burglary.  As used in this chapter, "inhabited" means currently being used for dwelling purposes, whether occupied or not.  A house, trailer, vessel designed for habitation, or portion of a building is currently being used for dwelling purposes if, at the time of the burglary, it was not occupied solely because a natural or other disaster caused the occupants to leave the premises.


211.  Robbery is the felonious taking of personal property in the possession of another, from his person or immediate presence, and against his will, accomplished by means of force or fear.


212.  The fear mentioned in Section 211 may be either:
   1. The fear of an unlawful injury to the person or property of the
person robbed, or of any relative of his or member of his family;
or,
   2. The fear of an immediate and unlawful injury to the person or
property of anyone in the company of the person robbed at the time of
the robbery.

(This came from http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html, where you can find more than you ever thought you wanted to know about California law)

There are strong-arm robberies, where someone takes property for someone else by means of intimidation or physical threat, and armed robberies, in which the robber uses a weapon.

Understanding some of the legal vocabulary police use has given me insight into the work they do, and I hope you've found it useful too.

I hope to take some time occasionally in this blog to mention common misconceptions and confusions about law enforcement and crime.

If you have suggestions, please let me know.

Take care,

Adam