“It’s under investigation.” “We can’t get into any details.” “This incident just occurred, so we’re not at liberty to share information with the public at this time.”
There are many ways to say, “No comment.” Unfortunately, some law enforcement agencies choose any or all variations of these examples in the first few minutes and hours, or much longer (if they even talk at all) after a critical incident.
This police news conference about a fatal officer-involved shooting in Fairfax County, Virginia, on May 11, 2023, occurred about three hours after the shooting.
Dramatic video shows a Virginia police officer struggling with a suspect who shoves him into a police cruiser, which then crashes into a nearby McDonald’s.
The officer called for help — and the attack ended when another officer shot and killed the suspect. pic.twitter.com/LZSsxumXD4
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) May 12, 2023
Two Washington, DC TV stations captured video from people on scene and posted it shortly after the attack on the officer and shooting. Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis was notified of the shooting, immediately went to the scene, checked on the officer (who had minor injuries) and watched the body worn camera footage to share with the public what was evident on video and to take what questions he could answer (there were plenty, and all while the investigation was just beginning).
Here’s the timeline as provided by the Fairfax County Police for the information release:
- 4:06 PM: Call for service for suspect stop
- 4:08 PM: Shots fired call goes out over the radio
- 4:27 PM: Internal message to FCPD about the assault on the officer and officer-involved shooting
- 4:30 PM: FCPD begins using Twitter (@FairfaxCountyPD)
- 7:15 PM: FCPD Chief holds news conference at the scene /li>
After CBS Mornings ran the story today, note what anchor Gayle King says:
“… I think if you grab an officer’s gun that sort of changes the whole dynamic.”
Sharing information that won’t change as soon as possible is critical to counter mis- and disinformation that spreads wildly on social media. Being the source of your agency’s news is imperative to maintaining public trust.
Note: I worked for the Fairfax County Police Department from 2016-2018 as the media relations director. I worked with now-Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis while we both worked for the Prince George’s County (MD) Police, where I was also the media relations director and he was the Assistant Chief.
