Earlier than we began the Impartial, I labored on the Provincetown Banner, the place a weekly function was the “police blotter.” That’s what we referred to as it, a minimum of, however it wasn’t stuffed with juicy particulars about what the police had been as much as. It was only a record of all of the individuals who had been arrested that week and the crimes they had been charged with — which is public data in our authorized system.
Once we launched the Indie, we ditched the arrest report. We determined that the uncooked record was a poor substitute for actual crime reporting and was usually deceptive. There was no rationalization of what led to an arrest, for instance, and no follow-up. If the costs had been dropped, or the defendant was acquitted at trial, that typically didn’t make the paper. And getting probably the most telling info wasn’t simple.
One 12 months the Indie had a reporter, Josephine de La Bruyère, who was decided to get them. She went to Orleans District Courtroom every single day and discovered tips on how to get entry to the case information. We found that a lot of what our police and courts cope with is said to alcohol and drug use.
Some readers miss the previous arrest report and ask us why the Indie doesn’t cowl crime. It’s true that we don’t publicize each drunk driving arrest or home violence incident that occurs in our cities. However we do report on crime.
Take, for instance, Christine Legere’s Feb. 15 story about David Delgizzi of Weston, who owns thousands and thousands of {dollars} of actual property on the Cape, exploits the low-income tenants who dwell in his uncared for and unsafe properties, doesn’t pay his taxes, and endlessly weasels out of displaying up in court docket. That story was simply the latest of a minimum of 14 articles we’ve printed about Delgizzi’s misdeeds.
After which there’s Berni McEneaney, the elusive “monetary adviser” from Marstons Mills who was entrusted by the late restaurateur Napi Van Dereck with managing his property, and who has proceeded to harass and evict Van Dereck’s devoted former workers (a lot of them Jamaicans) from the flats that Napi supposed as their long-term houses. Within the newest chapter of this infuriating story, as many as 13 Napiville tenants have been instructed by McEneaney to get out by April 1.
Sam Pollak’s report in final week’s Impartial was the fifth we’ve printed about what seems like a criminal offense, regardless that McEneaney and his collaborators — who seem to incorporate attorneys and judges — have by no means been arrested or held to account.
Like Delgizzi, McEneaney gained’t reply to questions. We need to know why, as conservator for Napi’s spouse, Helen, who has dementia, he has eliminated her from the hometown she liked and is shuttling her between North Carolina and Florida and maintaining previous pals from contacting her. Possibly there’s a respectable cause — or perhaps it’s what it looks like: elder abuse.
In order that’s one more reason we don’t publish the native arrest report: probably the most inveterate criminals in our group are nearly by no means arrested.
