Today it’s news, but tomorrow it’s history

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What do you think is the best-read daily feature of this newspaper?

Comics? Obituaries? Annie’s Mailbox?

Those are popular. But this editor’s guess is that nothing is better read from day to day than Police & Fire listings under Community Watch on Page A2.

Even without being on Page 1.

Even with no big “sensational” headlines.

We simply publish a list of police and fire calls and ambulance runs, and readers love them.

In fact, the list frequently shows up as one of the top five “most read” articles in our online edition.

And they’re not even written in complete sentences.

WHY WOULD so many people look at such a list?

Probably for the same reason sports fans check the baseball box scores: They’re easy to read, they contain lots of names, and you can learn a lot that you won’t find elsewhere in the newspaper.

But the “police blotter” has an extra advantage: It’s local.

Yes, you can find your friends and neighbors (and the sons and daughters of your friends and neighbors) among the people who show up on official reports about accidents, arrests and other newsworthy events.

“Names make the news,” old editors are fond of saying. And it’s true.

The list usually takes no more than a minute to scan for familiar names and addresses, for unusual happenings, or for things going on in your neighborhood.

It’s like rubbernecking as you drive slowly by the scene of an accident.

Except you can read the “blotter” in the privacy of your home – and nobody needs to know.

THAT HIGH readership is consistent with readers’ interest in the doings of our public safety forces: police officers and firefighters, as well as emergency medical technicians who staff the ambulances.

When those people are on the scene, news is happening.

And stories about those happenings always attract readers. The “most viewed” list of stories on our Web site proves it.

This past week, the top stories among online readers have included a street fight that resulted in a homicide, a death at the site of a train derailment, the police shooting of a dog, a storm knocking down a barn, a massive fish kill, the investigation of a double-fatality accident in which one victim had been driving faster than 100 mph ...

And not all of the Page 1 news has been that “heavy” stuff. The front page of recent editions reported on a mud volleyball tourney, the local presence of a coast-to-coast convoy of military vehicles, developments on a new VA clinic for the Sauk Valley ... but that “soft” stuff often doesn’t capture readers’ attention.

Why do we publish all that “bad” news? Because it’s news, and people want to read it.

A LOCAL FIRE official called recently to ask why we didn’t publish more information about his department’s runs.

The answer was simple: You’re not sending us more.

Nearly all of the items for “blotter” come from local public safety agencies. It’s to their advantage to let local citizens know what they’re getting in return for those tax dollars.

So, do we publish only what those government agencies want us to print? No.

If you think something has been omitted (or hidden!), let us know. We will check it out.

That list should be as complete and accurate as we can make it. You can help.

LAST WEEK we had a request that we remove an article from our archive at saukvalley.com.

A man was upset about a report on his brother’s death – which is still accessible online – and he thought police should not have released some details that we published last year. We had deleted some gruesome specifics that had been on the police report, but that didn’t satisfy the man.

We pointed out that the sheriff was obligated to provide information that is public record, and that we report on police news – in part – so people can monitor the performance of their government agencies.

We expressed our sympathy for the family’s loss, but our job is to report news as fairly and accurately as we can.

That can look to grieving friends as if we’re insensitive and lack compassion, which is how the man described us.

It’s been said that a newspaper prints the first draft of history.

And while we’re happy to correct factual inaccuracies, we can’t change history.