On March 15th I was assigned to cover the story of Fort Worth Police Officer Matt Pearce, who had been shot several times. I went to JPS hospital for a news conference with Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald to update everyone on Officer Pearce’s condition. Before Chief Fitzgerald began his news conference he said something to all the news reporters in the room. He said, “Please do not release the officer’s name if you know it. His wife has not been able to reach some family members, and she doesn’t want them to find out on the news.” Then he began his news conference about the officer’s condition. He was critical. He had been shot many times. He was in surgery. One of the suspects was killed, and the search continues for a second suspect.” The chief told the news media that he would update us again in a couple of hours.
During that time I chatted with some Fort Worth Police Officers who were gathered in the hospital waiting to hear about their colleague. We chatted about our hometowns, where we went to college, and our favorite sports teams. After about an hour one of the officers said to me, “I can’t believe you haven’t asked me the officer’s name or anything about him.” I told him that I knew he couldn’t talk about that, so I wouldn’t ask him. He seemed pleasantly surprised. He told me cops don’t like reporters because we only show up when bad things happen or when cops do something wrong. I told him that wasn’t true and I pointed to another Fort Worth officer I did a story on who played the bagpipe. I pointed out another police officer standing in the hallway with his police dog who I just did a story on.
When Chief Fitzgerald updated the reporters a couple of hours later on the officer’s condition he gave us Officer Pearce’s name. Then he told us he was surprised that none of the reporters leaked the officer’s name, and that his wife wanted us to know she was grateful that she got to tell her family members. I was surprised that the Chief was surprised, and I was slightly offended. I did not personally know all of the reporters gathered at JPS Hospital that day, but I do know that none of them would ever a leak an injured police officer’s name if the Police Chief asked us not to. We would likely be fired, and our news outlet would lose all credibility. I would never say something a Police Chief asked me not to, and I don’t know one reporter in Dallas/Fort Worth who would.
