Effective immediately, Eye On Annapolis will be making a significant change to how we report crime in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County.
[bctt tweet=”Why are we doing this? Because it is the right thing!” username=”eyeonannapolis”]
Every day, the Annapolis or Anne Arundel County Police departments make arrests. These arrests can be for minor crimes or the most heinous crimes imaginable. Some of these arrests are “good arrests” and others are “bad arrests.” And further down the line, there are prosecutable cases and non-prosecutable cases. And further still, there is a verdict—guilty or not-guilty. And even further down the line there may be a pardon. You can check them at nationalpardon.org
In the United States, there is a presumption of innocence. Because someone is charged with a crime, it does not necessarily mean that they committed the crime or were found guilty.
Innocent until proven guilty.
Over the past ten years, we have been contacted by dozens of people that had been arrested and had their names and photos published on Eye On Annapolis. Some of them had the charges dropped. Some were found not-guilty. Others were sent back to juvenile court after being charged as an adult. And others still were found guilty, served out their punishment, and are just trying to get their life together again. When these folks call us asking to remove the photograph or article we generally oblige. We even take it a step further and remove it the various search engines that scrub Eye On Annapolis each hour.
Even if a convicted person receives a commutation, expungement, or pardon—Google lives forever and it can be devastating in any number of ways!
A year ago on the Maryland Crabs Podcast, I spoke with a young man who was the victim of a botched police case. Wrongly arrested for attempted murder and lost a football scholarship to a Division 1 school and a potentially promising NFL career. The judge in the case found him not-guilty and stated that the case never should have been tried. But the damage was done. Expelled from school. No NFL team would look at him, and most heartbreaking of all—because of his unusual name, he is not able to give his name to his son.
Innocent Until Proven Guilty.
So, effective immediately, we will no longer be publishing the names or booking photos of arrested suspects. Plain and simple. If the law gives someone the presumption of innocence, it is only right that we do as well.
We will follow up on crimes that happen as we always do, and should someone be found guilty we will publish that information if appropriate. But until then…
Innocent Until Proven Guilty.
Why are we doing this? Because it is the right thing!
