"NO COMMENT"
We hear it every day in the media, "NO COMMENT". Prior to becoming a police officer, I would associate these words with guilt. I believed, like the majority of people, that innocent parties would naturally want to proclaim their innocence to the public.
As a rookie officer I saw many times my brothers and sisters embattled in public controversy over shootings, alleged misconduct and various other situations. In the end some of these officers were fired, others were vindicated, but one thing remained constant, "NO COMMENT". These words were a reoccurring theme regardless of the incident. This troubled me. I could not understand why these officers would not shout from the rooftops, "Hey I'm innocent, and here is why!" Many years later, when the media and controversy came knocking on my door, I soon learned there are two reasons why officers are advised to never make comments to the media.
Departmental Discipline
Inside the dictionary sized manual that is our "Rules and Standards of Conduct" is an order that reads "No Officer shall express in print or media any comments that will poorly reflect upon the Louisville Metro Police Department." If your statements find disfavor among the administration, you may find yourself facing internal discipline for violating this rule in addition to the matter that provoked those statements.
Spin Doctoring
Any statement you give to the media can and probably will be edited and formatted to fit within the context of the story. An officer may talk with a reporter for 20 minutes, but will find that only excerpts from that interview are used when the story is published or broadcast. Those excerpts, taken individually, could portray a very different meaning than that you had intended.
The media is a business, not a government entity or a non-profit organization. They need to make money to stay in business. People, by nature, want to be entertained. When you are in the business of selling the news you have to entertain your customers. Straight factual reporting without the semblance of controversy or adlib is boring.
Before we start getting phone calls and hate mail from the media, I am not suggesting that news organizations make up lies in order to sell advertising space. I am only stating the obvious. The media reports the news in a manner that will best serve its interest by getting the public to choose their news coverage over competitors by sensationalizing the story. This is not dishonest, but can be misleading. This topic has been brought up before by us in our news article, "A Tale of Two Stories".
The next time you hear "NO COMMENT", do not assume it is a sign of guilt, and rather consider that maybe this person is a little smarter than to be coaxed into a potentially more dangerous situation.