Filter by: Journalism Clips or Blog Posts.
Never accidentally scare an officer
Posted March 4, 2009 at 23:11 in clips
I am taking a feature-writing course this semester, and the first feature I wrote for class was published on page one of The Independent Florida Alligator today.
The class so far has restructured what I had learned in my Reporting class, and the feeling is a little disorienting, like someone tearing your bedsheets off you while you’re half-asleep. Still dazed and kind of feeling around in the dark, I’ve had to do away with the safe and cozy inverted pyramid and really nitpick at details and different verbs of attribution.
Back when I was a full-time reporter at the Alligator, I was used to metro stories…cops and city commission. When I got my hands on a feature, there was still that driving newsworthy force that kept the article very matter-of-fact.
I don’t quite know yet what to make of my stories that lack newsworthiness and focus more on the human interest appeal. They also sound more like narratives than articles, and now I’ve actually thrown myself in as a character. It’s different, new and exciting. And it’s also throwing my journalism world a bit off-kilter as I struggle to find perfect adjectives for the friendly face of an older cop and the humming Gainesville bar scene.
In the middle of January, I went on a five-hour patrol with a University Police Department officer. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect on my Friday night out, but I ended up experiencing everything from a routine traffic stop to a DUI.
One particular moment I’ll remember from the experience is when one of the officers moved me to a different patrol car while they were taking care of the DUI off Archer Road. I slid into the back seat, and it was pretty dark except for a lone street lamp and the flashing lights of the police car.
I guess they forgot to tell the driver of that particular patrol car that I was sitting in the back seat, because when he got into the car and I spoke up, he whirled around, clutching his chest and cursing under his breath. I had almost given the officer a reason to pull a gun on me. Yikes.
The fact that I scared the police officer was circulated around the station that night around 2 a.m., and everyone got a big kick out of it.
Here is the article, Patrol Division turns citizen interactions into memories.
The article doesn’t say it, but Part Two of the feature should appear tomorrow.