MidTerm Question 1

In the Al Zimmerman case of Child Pornography is a sensitive one because it deals with children. When dealing with children it is a whole different situation because the information on the child is not public record. Only parents/guardians, officers, have access to the information about the child. The information of anyone under the age of eighteen is not considered public record. So in Zimmerman’s case we can get information on him but not any information on the child that was in the situation.
The first documentation that I would get a hold of is the Police report. I would go down to the Sheriff’s office and get the report. I can also go online (http://www.hcso.tampa.fl.us/), here I can search in detail or as broad as I would like. I want o familiarize myself with this case. If I have the Police record I can be specific in my search. I put in Mr. Zimmerman’s name and I am given all his information. Once Zimmerman is booked all f his information is available on the database. Other documentation that I would get for my news report is the booking information, property, which they take pictures of so I would be able to use that picture as part of my story if he had anything that suggested his crime.
I could also get an incident report form the Sheriff’s office. Record copies of incident reports filled with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office can be obtained from the Records Section; and is released according to Florida Statute 119.00, Public Records. I can also look up criminal arrest records and that Requests should be directed to the Identification Section located at 2306 North Falkenburg Road, telephone # 247-0062.
I would also want to visit the Clerk of Circuit Court office; I want to see if there are any court date for Zimmerman, the bail out information and any other cases that this man has been involved in. Here I can also investigate if this man is married or has gone through a divorce, again other tactics to see Zimmerman’s pattern and his way of life. I want to get as much information that would lead to such a horrible crime. I would go to the Tax collector website; there I will get information about where he lives, property he owns, and how he follows up on his taxes. I can get a pattern on how this man works and his trends.
The individuals that I would want to interview are the officer who made the arrest. He or she can give me specifics on how they found this information, what happen during the arrest process, or any information that they might know.
I would also want to interview family members, if there are any. I would ask them if they had any idea what was going on. Again, I would get as much information as possible, even though this would be a tough subject for the family members as a reporter I would do everything ethically possible to get the family members to talk.
I would move into getting past employers to talk about Zimmerman, even people who worked with him. I would ask questions regarding his behavior at work, did they ever see him interact with minors, had they ever seen him outside of work, was there anything unusual about they way he acted at work. These are a few of the questions that would ask employers and people who worked with them. I would also like to speak to the individual who actually hired Zimmerman; I would want to know what qualifications Zimmerman had to get his position.
The last documentation that I would look at newspaper articles that were written about Zimmerman; I would google Zimmerman and see what interesting articles were written about him. On TBO http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/oct/17/na-dcf-new-child-porn-victims-not-state-clients/news-breaking/ we find that The state had paid $500,000 in a legal settlement for that victim, who will be eligible to receive therapy until he turns 40, a DCF spokeswoman said. This article is also recent so I know I can use this information to make the story that more exciting and interesting. With this newspaper article we get a sense about what is happening to the child/minor that went through this horrific situation. I would want to stick to my reliable sources like the circuit courts, and the sheriff’s office, because sometimes what you find on google can be fictitious and accuracy and attribution is key in writing a news story.