Tennessee Newspaper Reported Half the Story & Hurt Friend's Career

With a few noticeable exceptions, getting your name in the paper is a good thing. However, in my job it is generally a bad thing. Personally, most of us try avoiding it. I have one co-worker who got her name in the paper in a positive way several times. Another manager here has been mentioned several times positively as well. Mostly, though, having them use your name is bad.

The only two times I've been mentioned in the paper, my name was not used, just the title "parole officer" and the title "probation officer." Both items were good; I had assisted law enforcement with information and facilitated a search of residence when they might not have been able to get a warrant. I was also able to allow them to lock up and hold both offenders without bond by using the items found and new charges as violations for warrants.

Recently, a co-worker received some semi-anonymous news coverage that was not good. The story in the paper reported that a sex offender on probation had been working in a warehouse that was across the street from an elementary school. The business personnel manager reported that she had no idea the worker was a registered sex offender or convicted felon. Apparently a co-worker had seen his picture on the Internet and reported him to the police. Of course, he was arrested and fired. The paper mentioned that the sex offender stated his probation officer knew he worked there and had said it would be OK.

My co-worker was given a written reprimand that will stay on his record for 2 years. Another will result in him being fired. He has since moved from field supervision to report writing.