California Police Chief- Fall 2013 CPCA_2017_Spring Magazine.v3 | Page 31

IT’S SIMPLY
NOT YOUR
NEWS
TO BREAK:
It’s Simply Not Your News to Break: #StayInYourLane
by Captain Chris Hsiung, Mountain View Police Department
#StayInYourLane
A little over two years ago, Northern California law enforcement was rocked
news when the Hayward Police Department suffered the tragic loss of Sgt. Sc
Lunger, shot and killed in the line of duty on July 22, 2015.
By Captain Chris Hsiung
Mountain
View and
Police again
Department
As we see
time
across the country, news breaks on Twitter and oth
media platforms and is then carried by the mainstream media. It was no diffe
case. Unfortunately, sometimes we in law enforcement are our own wors
A little over two years ago, this
Northern
California law enforcement was rocked by
In this incident, it was other law enforcement departments that helped break
horrific news when the Hayward
Police
Department
suffered
tragic
loss of handling
of the officer’s
death
on Twitter, instead
of the the
primary
jurisdiction
news first, the mainstream media does no
Sgt. Scott Lunger, shot and incident.
killed In
in the
the interest
line of
of breaking
duty on
July 22, 2015.
to rely on a tweet or post from any credible law enforcement social media acc
as their source for verification of information.
As we see time and again across the country, news
breaks on Twitter and other social media platforms
and is then carried by the mainstream media. It was no
different for this case. Unfortunately, sometimes we in law
enforcement are our own worst enemy. In this incident, it
was other law enforcement departments that helped break
the news of the officer’s death on Twitter, instead of the
primary jurisdiction handling the incident. In the interest
of breaking news first, the mainstream media does not
hesitate to rely on a tweet or post from any credible law
the source
case for
of Sgt. Lunger’s incident, many of us watched the news break abo
enforcement social media account to act as In
their
officer
involved
shooting. The official tweet from Hayward PD that morning
verification of information.
above) advised that they were not releasing the condition of the officer. We ca
SPRING 2017 | California
31 of id
assume that during that time, Hayward PD personnel
were Police
in Chief
the midst
locating, and delivering the tragic news to Sgt. Lunger’s family in person. At