I wish journalists had to get the education I did as a criminology student. Literally the first week of uni: “if the police provide you with any information, assume it is wrong. It is a lie, it’s missing info, maybe it’s careless, usually it’s intentional, it does not matter, it is always a lie.”

Yup. As a journalism student 20 years ago we were not taught to be as critical of police releases as we should have been. I shudder to remember the stuff I did when I was a young TV producer. This was a good recent article on some local positive changes in the Boston-area.

Local news startups in Massachusetts are taking a fresh look at the police blotter - The Boston Globe

Some new outlets are making changes to their police logs, while others have opted not to publish them at all.