Merged Copaganda/Torturing the English language whenever a cop kills someone

TurkeysGhost

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TurkeysGhost
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AP style guide:

“Avoid the vague ‘officer-involved’ for shootings and other cases involving police. Be specific about what happened. If police use the term, ask: How was the officer or officers involved? Who did the shooting? If the information is not available or not provided, spell that out.”
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A fine tradition of American journalism is to absolutely abuse the human language when writing about how a cop caused someone's death. Seems like a fine place to collect them:

How many times do you have to read this to figure out what happened:

ABC Action News (Tampa) said:
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the trooper entered the path of the motorcyclist which led him to crash into the cruiser and become ejected. Troopers said the motorcyclist then fell into the road and was hit by a semi.
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https://twitter.com/abcactionnews/status/1450402594418008064
 
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SuburbanTurkey said:
AP style guide:

A fine tradition of American journalism is to absolutely abuse the human language when writing about how a cop caused someone's death. Seems like a fine place to collect them:

How many times do you have to read this to figure out what happened:

https://twitter.com/abcactionnews/status/1450402594418008064
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There's nothing wrong with the style guide. It basically says "Tell what happened; don't rely on police terminology." But that can't prevent plain bad writing.

It sounds like the sentence could be re-written something like this:
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a motorcyclist struck a police cruiser when the cruiser crossed the path of the motorcycle. The motorcyclist was thrown into the road and struck by a semi.
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Does that cover it?
 
shemp said:
I'm sure it won't be difficult for them to find a way to charge the driver of the semi with vehicular homicide.
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The carrier has already booked an seven figure liability. And their insurer is thinking about dropping them.
 
SuburbanTurkey said:
AP style guide:




A fine tradition of American journalism is to absolutely abuse the human language when writing about how a cop caused someone's death. Seems like a fine place to collect them:

How many times do you have to read this to figure out what happened:



https://twitter.com/abcactionnews/status/1450402594418008064
Click to expand...
Without checking the link, the sentence seems to be stating that the Trooper was not in the "cruiser" when entering the path of the motorcycle. Is that accurate?

If the Trooper was in the car when entering the path of the motorcycle, it would have been more illustrative to state that "The Troopers "cruiser" entered the path of the motorcycle, no?
 
"Brave Trooper violently assaulted from behind by thug biker, who then vandalized a nearby semi's grill."
 
Avoid the vague ‘officer-involved’ for shootings and other cases involving police. Be specific about what happened. If police use the term, ask: How was the officer or officers involved? Who did the shooting? If the information is not available or not provided, spell that out.”
Click to expand...

Is this really controversial suggestion? Give me a break.
 
Oh, give the police a break. People who look like they're about to become violent are everywhere, and the officers need a free hand to protect the rest of us from them.
 
Myriad said:
Oh, give the police a break. People who look like they're about to become violent are everywhere, and the officers need a free hand to protect the rest of us from them.
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ITYM 'Officer involvement in anticipation and prevention of future criminal acts requires a broad mandate on the part of the Department, as well as the support and understanding of the general public. '

Dave
 
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