Around 6 a.m. Wednesday, more than 7 hours after the manhunt for shooting suspect Russell Daniels began, Boulder police spokeswoman Shannon Cordingly approached reporters at the scene to ask whether an officer could be taken up above the search area in the helicopter shared by Denver TV stations.
Boulder already had asked the Denver Police Department for use of its helicopter, but hadn’t heard back. The FBI had offered technical assistance, possibly including aircraft, but not until later in the day.
Less than an hour after the helicopter picked the officer up at Manhattan Middle School in south Boulder, Daniels was taken into custody without issue, thanks in large part, Cordingly said, to coordination between SWAT personnel on the ground and the officer in the helicopter.
“The helicopter was instrumental. … An invaluable resource,” she said. “It was really a win-win, too, for both sides, because we were able to quickly apprehended Mr. Daniels, and the media, being with us, was able to see and tell the story as it was unfolding, which doesn’t normally happen from a bird’s-eye view.”
Boulder police thank Denver media for use of their shared helicopter during manhunt https://t.co/IcNbqIY4sz pic.twitter.com/tEIZEJnZK5
— City of Boulder (@bouldercolorado) August 24, 2016
But Wednesday’s arrangement falls into a “grey area” of media ethics, said Paul Voakes, journalism department chair at the University of Colorado.
“The really important principle, in my mind, is whether the news media can be regarded as a branch of law enforcement.”
Clayton Sandell, a Denver-based correspondent for ABC News, didn’t think it was a close call.
“News organizations should decline this request,” he tweeted early Wednesday. “Journalists are not agents of law enforcement.”
Read the full story at DailyCamera.com.
