Orient Rd. Jail

Our class field trip to Orient Rd. Jail was quite the experience. I hadn't been to a jail before and this field trip was definitely an eye opener, I guess this may have been due to my more naive expectations. Right off the back I was surprised that we had to sign waivers regarding any incidents that occurred while in the jail. However, probably the biggest initial shock was walking into booking and realizing that there were inmates roaming freely. I really thought any and every prisoner would be behind a glass wall.

Major Lucas gave us a lot of surprising information while giving us the tour, such as the large number of bookings every year. According to the population summary booklet, in 2007 one person was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail system approximately every seven minutes. This figure was made visible, with the arrival of several different people as we were being toured.

The immensity of the jail was kind of scary, and this fact combined with the vastly disproportionate number of inmates to officers made it all the more concerning. At one point they informed us that per state rules, if there are any more than 72 inmates there must be more than one officer. Of course, probably in efforts to save money, they push the boundaries to keep one officer per unit of 72.


Major Lucas brought up an issue at the end of the tour that never would have crossed my mind; he let us know that in the event of a hurricane hitting Florida, they don't have the luxury of leaving. He informed us that it was obvious that an evacuation would create panic, so it is their duty to stay and ride out the storm. I think it’s a very selfless act and the detention employees should truly be applauded for their work. In the end, no matter how unpleasing it may have been to be in the middle of the jail, it appeared that the institution was being operated well and that their methods are working.

Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office

Our class trip to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office on Tuesday provided us with a lot of useful information. J.D. Callaway, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office PIO gave our class a short lecture and then proceeded to give our class a tour of facility. I found our class visit to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office to be one of the more informative class sessions we have had.

I think one of the reasons that Callaway’s lecture was so informative was because he has been on both sides of the field, he was a reporter and now works on the opposite end, controlling the information the media gets from the sheriff’s office. He did a very good job explaining the different actions to take when covering a story. For example, he explained that if you were covering a story on someone who had a warrant, you would want to go to the courthouse to obtain the information you would need. He also told us that as a reporter, a search warrant can be extremely valuable because it contains so much pertinent information. A search warrant would provide you with the law enforcement’s credentials, as well as every exhibit brought before the court that stated probable cause to obtain the warrant. I was unaware that a search warrant is a public record and that it becomes so just ten days after the search was conducted. A search warrant can also really give a reporter a heads up on who law enforcement is leaning towards because half of the time search warrants don’t have an arrest with it so searching for arrests wouldn’t necessarily tell the whole story.

I was surprised when J.D. told us that 73,000 people were booked to the Orient County jail last year and that unless the arrest is sealed or expunged by the court, it is a public record for eternity. I also liked when J.D. brought up how technology is creating a challenge in a sense, because of the video being taken at booking in the county jail. That video then also becomes accessible to reporters but only after they are able to ensure that no one else is in the video, such as someone who was simply passing by rather than being booked.

Overall, I feel that one of the things that made this class trip so interesting was how much J.D. was able to apply the information to real life scenarios. He has been in our shoes, and that’s why a lot of the information he gave was relevant.

Tampa/Hillsborough Human Rights Coucil

I attended the Tampa/Hillsborough Human Rights Council meeting on September 8th at the Free Library in downtown Tampa. The organization holds a public meeting every other month. It was a very small meeting with only seven people in attendance.

The board and chapter members discussed several issues during the meeting. Much of the discussion regarded updates on projects such as their efforts to get a website launched soon, as well as their scholarship partnership with area schools and the Tampa Bay Federal Credit Union. The issue that was most addressed was their upcoming annual breakfast celebrating 60 years of human rights. They are looking at bringing in a keynote speaker and honoring the scholarship recipients at this event. Aside from this, the treasurer announced that he would be stepping down in the near future and would like for the council to consider someone to replace his position.

I interviewed the Tampa chapter's president, Mr. Ahmed Bedier. Mr. Bedier is a civil rights activist who got involved with the organization through his work with the Council on Muslim Civil Rights Activity group. He said he started attending meetings regularly and eventually was voted in as the organizations president. In speaking with Mr. Bedier, I learned that the Tampa chapter is one of the oldest human rights organization in the state. The chapter has been around for 35 years and was started during in the 60's during the civil rights movement where human rights violations were occurring quite often. At a time where we have progressed from such frequent civil rights violations, the chapter focuses more on human rights education and prevention. President Bedier informed me that they work with many politicians in order to try and prevent human rights issues that arise from nothing more than bad laws, this is why they work to promote and educate people about human rights.

Deputy C.M. Devage, the Hillsborough county sheriff's office minority outreach coordinator was another one of the attendees at the meeting. She represents the sheriff, in his appointed seat. She works with organizations like this one in order to build the law enforcement's perspective among the people, and to ensure that it is not tainted. Both she and Mr. Bedier stressed that the organization is relevant because human rights affects everyone. Wanda Crosley Tyus, a Century 21 real estate agent was one of the board memebers of the meeting in attendance as well. She is the Secretary for the council and plays a large role in organizaing the annual breakfast, which is the Tampa chapters largest event all year.

Matt Doig

Matt Doig’s presentation complemented Adria Harper’s presentation really well.
I felt that Doig however was much more of a dialogue than Mrs. Harpers, as well as much more engaging.

Matt’s stories were both interesting and informative, and he tied in the importance of open government in regards to public records.

I think that my favorite example he gave was of the story he worked on with his colleagues regarding teacher exam scores and low-income schools. I was very impressed with the dedication they put into getting this story. It was surprising that the news organization allowed them to work on this story for two years, and i'm sure much of that time was spent trying to get around the board of educations attempts to stop them. I feel that this story is a quality news piece that goes above the typical dateline: sexual predator type of story. I’m sure that this story affects hundreds of students not only in Florida but it probably goes on all throughout other states. I think this is the reason many journalists get into the field, to get stories that truly matter and make a difference.

I think however, on the other side that stories like this also impact so many people in a negative manner. For example, when he brought up his first story about buss drivers with D.U.I’s. I think that perhaps some people might have made a mistake once in there past, and I feel like some of these people might have changed and then I becomes a mistake that’s brought to light in front of all the readership who will probably judge them for it. Although I can also see the side of a concerned parent who wouldn’t want their child being driven around by someone who has that on their record.

I honestly had written off investigative reporting prior to this presentation because I associated to reports with topics like that of a local resident who paid for a pool that was never finished by the contractor. I usually find these stories irrelevant and the kind of investigative reporting Matt described was very interesting and important

First Amendment Foundation

Andrea Harper’s presentation last week was very thorough and helpful.
She really took the time to fully explain our rights underneath the Sunshine Laws. From handwritten post-it notes to marriage licenses, there really is a lot of information available to the public in Florida. I thought that it was really interesting to see that public information is available to anyone in Florida, regardless of whether they live here or not, and even if they are not citizens.

Andrea seemed to really be passionate about her career and advocating the right to view public information, it was obvious that she really believes in the Sunshine Law. A great example of Florida’s Sunshine laws effectiveness is that other states contact Andrea at the First Amendment Foundation when they are shaping their public information laws.

I was really interested in the ambiguity of the laws regarding personal computers. I feel that as citizens, we truly do have the right to request to view whatever is on the computer considering that we pay for them with our tax dollars and public officials should really be limiting their use to strictly public business. However, being that this is not always the case the officials are allowed to sift through their computers and not hand over anything containing personal information. I feel that this allows them to really manipulate the information as much as possible because they can in turn regulate what information we receive if it may cast them in a negative light or is incriminating. It seems like we could only retain information like this then, with the help of whistleblowers who are on the inside and have access to such dealings.

I learned a lot from Andrea’s visit and can now appreciate the openness of our system here in Florida. I think it really serves the people and gives journalists here in Florida a really great advantage.