Can the Police Release Info Sooner? – Ask The City

Your Question:

We have recently been made aware of several incidents of child molestation (at the Civic Center) and a possible child abduction of a 5th grader (at Linford). Why hasn't LPD alerted us about these incidents? Although we did read about the Civic Center incident in the Boomerang - we never heard about the other incident. Most of what we've heard, before the printing in the paper, was being circulated by text messages and emails. This leaves the public not knowing what to believe! I think the LPD should have alerted us with maybe a radio broadcast or possibly by television. As a resident of Laramie who has 9 young grandchildren in town - this is very disheartening.

The City's Response:

The Laramie Police Department receives numerous calls of suspicious activity. Although recently we have substantiated a number of disturbing incidents, that is not always the case. It is our intention to always ensure that information we receive that may be of concern to public safety be aired, through whatever means we have at our disposal, as expeditiously as possible. As well, we never want to contribute to rumors or inaccurate information. The “incident” you refer to that allegedly occurred in the area of Linford School was quickly and completely investigated and determined to have been entirely unsubstantiated. This conclusion was reached not only by the police department but also school employees involved in the matter. In the incident that occurred at the Civic Center, we responded to a citizen complaint and within 24 hours had a perpetrator in custody. At that time, the media was notified. The release of information could only have occurred in the sequence it did, since we needed to complete an investigation and responsibly release information related to that incident.

Finally, if you ever have questions about a rumor you hear, an email you may receive, or something you become aware of, we would urge you to call the police. Although we may not always be able to tell you all the details if in fact we are actively investigating something, if we don’t know about something we will tell you that, and if you have information contrary to what we know to be happening, we will tell you that at well.

It is important to remember that the officers and support personnel of the Laramie Police Department live in Laramie and have families too, and that the safety of the community is always our first priority. Sometimes, in order to be successful in achieving that outcome, we must keep investigative facts confidential until we either substantiate them and release them or use them to put those that might threaten the safety of all us, in custody.

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