Police need one policy for naming victims, chief says

Jane Orydzuk urges the media to give loved ones time to absorb the trauma.

Edmonton police Chief Rod Knecht says Alberta police agencies should be “singing from the same songbook” when it comes to releasing the names of homicide victims.

Knecht was pushed on the force’s policy on naming homicide victims at a coffee session Monday with reporters at southwest division headquarters, 1351 Windermere Way SW.

While the department’s longstanding practice has been to name those killed in Edmonton homicides with few exceptions, nearly half of 2017 homicide victims have had their names withheld by police.

Different police agencies have different policies on naming victims.

RCMP K Division has indicated a shift away from withholding victims’ names in the interest of transparency. Calgary police, with few exceptions, continue to release the names of victims.

“There’s nothing on our radar as far as changing that,” said Calgary police spokeswoman Emma Poole.

Knecht said he plans to raise the issue with the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police.

He said there should be a provincewide approach, “so what’s being released in Calgary is the same that’s being released in an RCMP jurisdiction, that’s being released in Lethbridge, that’s being released in the Blood Tribe, that’s being released in Edmonton.”

“We should have some consistency here. This is obviously something the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police has to have a discussion about, because we should have one policy, so (the media) aren’t confused, the public isn’t confused and quite frankly our police officers aren’t confused either.”

Knecht said his force is trying to balance the privacy rights of victims with the public’s right to know, as well as comply with freedom of information and privacy (FOIP) legislation.

“We’ve talked to the FOIP people who tell us, specifically, the Edmonton Police Service were maybe a little loose on providing names” in the past, he said.

TIMING, TRANSPARENCY CONCERNS

Victims’ advocate Jane Orydzuk, whose son was a homicide victim in 1994, said her issue is timing.

“For the public to learn the victims’ names almost the same day we do, I find it’s unfair,” she said. “As victims, we’ve just been told a loved one has been murdered; we need time to absorb that information.”

“I think eventually they have to release the names,” she added.

Edmonton has recorded 17 homicides to date in 2017. Police have withheld the names of eight victims, six of them domestic homicides.

Sean Holman, a journalism professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said naming homicide victims helps the public scrutinize the work of law enforcement.

It also helps identify societal trends that might otherwise go unnoticed.

“There’s some kind of symptom that (homicide) is an indicator of, whether that’s organized crime or domestic violence,” he said. “It can point to other issues.”

I am writing to encourage people to consider a different perspective on the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) choosing to not immediately release names of persons who are murdered.

I write on behalf of the families who have lost a loved one to murder, and families who gather to meet once a month with others who know this pain.

The Victims of Homicide Support Society’s meetings include wonderful loved ones of people who have been murdered as well as homicide investigators from both Edmonton Police Service and the RCMP K-Division and Victim Services Advocates.

It is quite rare that the victim or co-victim’s feelings are taken into consideration within the criminal justice system. Our group has learned the hard way over many years that we do not have a justice system; we do have a legal system, where victim rights are not truly honoured.

EPS has taken a massive step, in using a victim-based practice to actively honour and empower the rights of co-victims, when they discuss the timing/withholding of the release of a name with the family.

My members often speak of the media aggression and intrusion that bombards them from the start. Often the argument used by the media to the family is that they want to give the victim a face and a voice. The truth is, that voice and face are used for profit and to satisfy a curious public. We understand that murder means profit. We know the public is curious for details.

What is the urgency to publish names? Does it really make a difference to transparency if the name is released immediately or later?

For representatives of media to be voicing their personal desire to have names released is unfair and once again victimizes co-victims. We know the instant release of names makes their jobs easier; it makes our healing more difficult.

I imagine if they had ever walked in our shoes, their views would be entirely different.

It is difficult for someone who has not experienced murder to understand that total strangers judge us and often treat us like we have a contagious disease. The early days are the worst. We don’t wish this journey on anyone.

It is an unbelievable pain that no one can ever understand unless they have experienced it. It is a lifelong journey that consumes us day and night, and the last thing any family needs is to have total strangers watching our tragedy for entertainment purposes.

When my son was murdered in October 1994, the media reported that he and a co-worker had been electrocuted. It wasn’t until 36 hours later that we received a call from the medical examiner’s office to tell us that both men had been shot in the head three times — execution style. When a murder occurs, the inability of families not to be able to say a goodbye compounds the grief. The question “why” haunts us for years.

Our world starts spinning out of control the moment police knock on our door. I know that I speak for many families when I say, please allow us time to hear the news of our loved one’s tragic and violent death from police. Give us some time to tell our family and friends and begin to absorb the horror before publishing their names.

For us to see the news (newspapers, radio, Twitter, Facebook included) and have the public know our names, just because they are curious and want to know right now, is a negative infringement on the grief, shock and trauma that surrounds us from the beginning.

For a moment, imagine learning of your loved one’s murder through the media, instead of through the police or a family member. Jane Orydzuk is president of the Victims of Homicide Support Society.