If a shooting occurs and no one hears, does anyone care?

What if the police write a press release -- about, say, the shooting of three people in town -- but don't send it to the press? Does anyone care?

About 150 people cared enough about the lack of info to attend a meeting Tuesday night of the Edgebrook Homeowners Association. The shooting occurred in Edgebrook. Residents heard Warrenville Police Chief Ray Turano say, "My instructions were, 'If anyone calls, give the information out.' "

Well, we called. Several times over the weekend. But we heard nothing of the shooting until a resident called us Monday wondering why the Daily Herald wasn't providing coverage on a matter of such interest. Only after then asking police specifically about the shooting, did we get enough details for a story posted on Monday's Web site and Tuesday's newspaper.

Turano said police were busy investigating the crime and trying to secure public safety (the gun apparently used in the crime was missing), so getting the word out was secondary. And Mayor Dave Brummel told our reporter it had to be "obvious" something was going on, and having the details in the newspaper the next day wouldn't have made anyone safer.

Perhaps not. And while readily acknowledging every situation is a little different, I pose these possibilities:

• What if a suspect was at large? Might it be helpful to alert the public in hopes of finding him?

• Even if a suspect were in tow, wouldn't it be helpful to let the public know they were not in immediate danger?

• Perhaps most to the point, don't people have a right to know what's going on in their neighborhoods?

To their credit, Turano and Brummel faced the music and appeared before an angry passel of residents. Turano, police chief for about four months, promised to do better.

And Warrenville is far from alone when it comes to being non-forthcoming with the release of information. A fatal shooting in Addison went unreported for a couple weeks; this week, an Oakbrook Terrace resident asked us about a Sunday night armed robbery of a convenience store and attempted robbery of a restaurant. Didn't get anything on that until we asked authorities on Wednesday. Ditto someone telling us of two incidents in Villa Park in which motorists attempted to lure children with offers of candy and a ride home. Shouldn't the public be alerted to that?

Some officials make no bones about not wanting to tell us anything going on in their departments. Here's what one of our reporters says she was told when making her nightly round of cop calls: "Even if there was something going on, I would still say, 'No.' " The reporter asked why. "That's what I am instructed to say. My boss told us that we couldn't tell you anything. So, keep calling every night if you want, but you're always going to get the same answer."

This attitude is mystifying. One of our editors put it well:

"Here's what confuses me. Our police chiefs allow their cops to carry guns. They send them into all sorts of tricky and dangerous situations. And in the vast majority of cases, the cops come through with flying colors. But when it comes to talking to somebody with a pen and a pad of paper, suddenly the chiefs treat their own officers like 4-year-olds."

And, sometimes we can actually do some good by letting the world know about crime and accidents and stuff. Naperville police spent a month trying to apprehend some vandals. After alerting the media, a 16-year-old member of a "graffiti club" was arrested about a week later and charged with spray-painting his group's "tags" all over downtown businesses.

Yes, we sometimes ask a lot of questions to which the police don't have the answers. And, yes, sometimes we get things wrong. And, yes, it might help -- as one police chief once suggested -- that we try to send reporters by in person more often for news, perhaps to build a bit of a relationship.

But aren't we all in this together to some extent? And even if we're not told of shootings, murders, attempted abductions and the like, virtually all of this stuff eventually comes out at some point. And, regardless of who's to blame -- the cops for not telling or us for not asking -- don't we all look bad?

jdavis@dailyherald.com