Cop Shoots Dog: How Not to Handle An Incident

It had to happen sooner rather than later, but I guess we're lucky it was a dog, not a person.

(The dog owners probably don't feel that way.)

I'm talking about the incident reported two days ago by a Green Bay TV station and today by the EagleHerald.

First of all, if your kid thinks it's funny to call 911 and hang up, you have some parenting work to do. It is entirely possible that your dog needs obedience training, but since so many details are not known, this may not even be the case.

Secondly, when a police officer shoots a dog, for whatever reason, the correct action for the police department to take is tell it all and tell it fast. It's basic crisis management.

Before the dog owners and their neighbors went to Green Bay news media, the Marinette Police Department should have issued a statement covering the basic details and stating that an investigation was underway. The name of the officer involved should have been released. Depending on the severity of the incident, the officer might have been suspended until the investigation is complete.

I'm less interested in which officer pulled the trigger than I am in why the department doesn't follow the basics of public communication, but some people want to know names - and know fast.

Perhaps that is why the local newspaper allowed use of speculation and allowed an officer's name to be printed, even though it was unconfirmed by the police department.

We don't even know if the reporter tried to confirm the name. Typically in such situations, the reporter adds a line that goes something like this, "The officer's identity was not confirmed by the police."

So today, the paper ran the following breaking news item on its website:

MARINETTE — According to a press release from Captain John Corry of the Marinette Police Department, "The Marinette Police Department is still actively reviewing the incident involving the shooting of a dog on Aug. 17. We would like to clarify that the officer reported by social media as being Officer Matt Borths is inaccurate. At the time officers responded to this incident, Borths was not working. He later reported on duty for his regular 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. shift and responded to the scene to assist in locating the injured dog. The internal review is ongoing and the outcome will be released upon completion."

On social media? The officer's name was in a news story that ran in the paper. It may have appeared on social media, too. I no longer follow local Facebook pages.

So here we have a police department that appears not to follow basic public communication tenets and a newspaper that appears unable to take responsibility for its mistakes.

Not a good news day in Marinette.

I feel bad for Officer Borths.

Update: MPD says the unnamed officer acted consistently with his training. Read more in tomorrow's paper.