The Daily Campus

Issue date: 3/31/09 Section: Commentary

Over spring break, The Daily Campus took all the police blotters older than 18 months off its Web site. The decision came after much deliberation and even controversy, as reported on today's front page. A major argument for the new policy is that employers often "Google" potential employees before hiring them, and having a police blotter record online could hurt their chances of getting a job. Some arguments against taking down the police blotter are that print editions are around forever and can always be checked and that, once we start taking down blotters, we start down a slippery slope with people asking us to take down old quotes or news stories. When it comes down to it, deliberations and controversies aside, the decision to take police blotters off the Internet after 18 months is a great compromise with and service to the community. Also, this new policy speaks to a number of issues regarding Internet content and where newspapers should draw the line when it comes to leaving incriminating information online.

The Internet has brought on a lot of new issues when it comes to putting information online. People are concerned about Facebook photos ruining reputations or chances of getting hired. Arrests are on a whole other level. Many of the arrests made on campus are first-time offenses or crimes that people get cleared off their record. Even if they are cleared and employers won't see them on police records, just the fact that it shows up in a basic Google search might deter employers from hiring someone. However, just because it's cleared off one's record doesn't mean it never happened. That's why the police blotter is still being printed, and that's why it's still going online.

Many people read the news online, and it should have the same content that we produce for our print edition. This is also why there cannot be any exception to this rule, why The Daily Campus cannot simply start taking down content other than police blotters, for example, if people don't like what they told a reporter four years ago or because they don't like the way they wrote a letter to the editor. When someone is quoted or writes a letter to the editor, he or she does so with the knowledge or intention that it will be printed.

The Daily Campus masthead reads, "Serving UConn since 1896," and as a major source of campus news to many students and staff, it really does serve the UConn community. The goal of The Daily Campus is to report the news that affects UConn students, and in that sense, it is serving the UConn community. Arrests on campus are news. They're something people care about, and the police blotter is a popular read in the newspaper. There are many reasons why the old blotters shouldn't stay online forever, but they absolutely warrant publication in the first place.

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