They were doing what in Evergreen-Rotary Park? Here’s your weekly police blotter:

Thrown rock, Fourth Street at Washington Avenue: Police were called June 18 for a man who said a bystander threw a rock at his truck. Officers noted a dent on the side of the truck. The victim explained he’d honked a couple times due to heavy traffic, which may have provoked the bystander. Police searched the area and found a man who told them he didn’t throw a rock, but did witness the driver being “crazy” and taking off at a high rate of speed. No arrests were made.

Vehicle prowl, 100 Washington Avenue: A car’s rear passenger side window was broken out in the Harborside parking garage June 19. It was unknown at the time of the report if anything was taken. Police have no suspects.

Assault, 800 Sixth Street: Police went to Salvation Army June 20 for an alleged assault. The victim said he was standing in line for breakfast when he’d been approached by a man who called the victim a “punk,” and then punched him in the face. The suspect’s only statement to police was that “people keep calling me a rape-o,” police said. The suspect was taken to the Kitsap County Jail.

Breach of trust, 3500 Parker Lane: A man told police June 20 that he’d moved from Florida to Bremerton recently and hired a company to drive his car across the country. But the company, which apparently promised to deliver the car to his door in Bremerton, said he needed to come to Seattle and get it or wait a few more days. Police said they couldn’t do anything because he’d given permission to the company to drive his car, but the man asked police to be on the lookout for it anyway.

Threats with a knife, Sylvan Way at Almira Drive: Police found a woman threatening to hurt herself with a knife June 20. The woman was “screaming, yelling about money and waving her arms,” before taking the knife and “poking” herself in the chest with it. She then threw the knife at an approaching officer, though the officer noted it landed “harmlessly.” A family member of the woman said she’d smoked meth several hours earlier and had become “increasingly difficult to deal with.” She was taken to Harrison Medical Center for a mental health evaluation.

Found debit cards, 4200 Wheaton Way: A skateboarder found four cards, two of them debit cards in the area June 21. Police found out the man who the cards belonged to was in the Kitsap County Jail. They visited the inmate, who said he’d been at the homeless camp by Fred Meyer and had been drinking at the time. He thinks his backpack was left behind when he was arrested by county sheriff’s deputies. Police left the cards with Jail staff for the inmate to have when he’s released.

Flooding, 500 Pacific Avenue: Police responded to an alarm at the Tim Ryan Building June 21. With the help from firefighters, they found someone had turned on a water valve in the stairwell, flooding the parking garage inside the building. Used condoms and syringes were also found in the area. The water damage was limited to the parking garage and police vowed to do frequent patrol checks of the building.

Arguing over meth, 100 Bloomington Avenue: Police were called to the area June 21 for a report of a couple arguing over meth. The woman had a probation violation warrant and was taken to the Kitsap County Jail. The man told police they should know who he is because he just got out of jail. He wasn’t wanted for any crimes though police said he was trying to draw them into a “confrontation.” He eventually left the area.

Domestic assault, 3900 Wheaton Way: Two witnesses told police June 21 they saw a man hit his girlfriend while the couple was trying to change a tire in a parking lot. The alleged victim denied she’d been hit by her boyfriend. Police took the boyfriend to jail for assault.

Graffiti, 2500 Cherry Avenue: Harrison Medical Center staff June 22 told police that someone had just sprayed a swastika on a building at the hospital campus. Meanwhile, police got a call from a man wanting to report graffiti. When they met the man, he said he’d gone to visit a woman who’d just gotten out of jail. He’d agreed to give the woman, who was drunk and had a can of spray paint, a ride. Everywhere they went, she’d paint a swastika, to include the hospital, the downtown ferry terminal and another business. The man finally let her out of the car and he called 911. She was taken to the Kitsap County Jail and police advised the man that “it would probably be a good idea not to have any further dealings” with the woman.

Driving under the influence, 3200 Olympus Drive NE: A taxi driver reported June 22 that his cab had been rear-ended by a vehicle. The driver of that vehicle asked the cab driver not to call police. He did anyway. Officers responded and found the driver who’d caused the crash to be intoxicated. A breath test found he was .18, more than twice the legal limit for driving. He was taken to the Kitsap County Jail.

Thefts from lockers, 2200 Homer Jones Drive: The YMCA informed Bremerton Police June 23 that six lockers had been broken into, with petty cash taken from three different people. YMCA staff stated it’s the third wave of thefts in the locker room, police said. Police have no suspects, but recommended the staff put up flyers and perhaps a reward in an attempt to catch the thieves.

Lewd conduct and indecent exposure, 1500 Park Avenue: Officers were called June 23 for a report of a man and a woman “having relations” at Evergreen-Rotary Park. A couple had called 911, alarmed they were having sex in the park and “being quite loud,” while it happened. Police arrived to find a man engaged in oral sex with a woman at a picnic table. A third man was at the table watching the act, police said. When an officer asked the man involved in the alleged sexual activity what they were doing, the man replied, “you know what we were doing. I am embarrassed.” Police put the man into handcuffs but later released him, telling both the man and woman to leave and that a report of the incident would be forwarded to the Bremerton city prosecutor for a review of lewd conduct and indecent exposure charges.

Nuisance property, 1100 Warren Avenue: Police were patrolling near 1108 Warren Avenue June 24 — which officers said was a “chronic nuisance property” — and found a woman staying inside that had a misdemeanor suspended license warrant for her arrest. She was taken to jail, police said.

Broken mailbox, 6000 Harlow Drive: Officers were called June 24 for a report of a damaged locking mailbox. The resident who owns the mailbox said she couldn’t open it anymore, police said. Police have no suspects.

Blogger’s note: this post comes to us from Kitsap Sun Editor David Nelson. 

A few readers in Manette have pointed out a recent court case that acquitted a Bremerton teenager of an assault charge. They are curious why we haven’t given the incident more attention, particularly because a Seattle television station did at least two reports this week.

There are two questions to address here:

1. Why haven’t we published a story on the alleged assault?

2. How do we follow crime overall to share public safety information with readers?

One of our reporters did hear about the May 7 assault in the days after it happened. He called police several times for more information, and they declined to give details. The reason may have been because the assault was under investigation or because it involved a minor, which are legitimate criteria police have to temporarily withhold information about a crime. We do depend on our police relationships as one guideposts on when to report or not report a crime (though law enforcement’s opinion is not the only thing that we base decisions on). In this case, had the police felt there was an immediate danger to the neighborhood I hope they would tell us so we could share that with readers. They didn’t, so the rush to run a story with incomplete information was not as pressing.

When we saw the Q13 report this week, we decided to report the outcome of the court case. But the suspect was acquitted. At that point, the story would have been about unfounded allegations a month after the incident occurred. Legally, there was no crime to report on.

That’ll sound like an excuse those in Manette who are alarmed there may be a kid running around randomly attacking people. (Full disclosure: I live in Manette, too, and often go running where the incident occurred.) The initial arrest would have been newsworthy — had we had the complete story — and a reporter did seek information for several days. So we didn’t blow it off or cover something up. We just didn’t know enough about what happened, and the subsequent circumstances and other daily obligations kept us from following it more closely.

I thought that offering this glimpse at the how our reporters find out about possible crime will illuminate the case a bit more.

We learn about suspected crimes in five ways:

1. Checking police reports. We do not check reports daily from each of the county’s six agencies (not including Washington State Patrol). It’s time-consuming, and at times difficult because of legal restrictions (certain cases under investigation, for example) or delays in filing reports (say, information that must be redacted before going for public view).

2. Checking the daily Kitsap County Jail “in custody” list. This is something we do every day, and is probably the most efficient way to find out what’s going on. The list tells us who was booked into jail, for what suspected crime, and at what bail amount. A reporter learns to seek out potentially newsworthy arrests — whether a large bail amount or a serious crime listed — and we then request charging documents or police reports to find out more on that specific incident.

3. Communication with police or sheriff’s deputies. LIke I said above, law enforcement will let us know, whether a phone call or a news release, when something of public safety is going on.

4. Tips from the community. Folks call in, post to our Facebook page, email us, etc. when they see something happening. We can’t follow up on every single tip, but we’ll chase those that sound newsworthy.

5. Listen to the scanner. It’s going as I write, just like always in the newsroom. Editors and reporters are trained to listen for police traffic on incidents that we call police for more information about.

At this point it’s worth noting that the reported Lebo Avenue assault only fit one of those criteria — we got a tip from a reader. Bremerton police didn’t immediately provide the report or oral details and the suspect was booked into jail as a juvenile, which means his name was on a list that isn’t made public. We like those tips from the community, but they can also be the difficult to chase down solid information about.

What follows those five methods in a reporter’s decision making is a more detailed explanation — there are value judgments about what crimes to write up, protocols on felony cases or sex offenses, when to name or not name a suspect who is charged with a felony, and which cases we will follow through the court system. There’s no single answer that applies to everything.

What may be confusing for a reader is the variety of practices different media have in crime reporting. In this case, a Seattle television news station chose to focus on one incident in Bremerton even though Q13 very rarely reports on any other crime in our neighborhoods — so there’s little precedent for their coverage. The station chose to name and photograph the victim, which we rarely do, though it’s clear Jordan Monasmith was a willing participant in the coverage. And TV news overall tends to swoop in for a single crime incident then leave quickly — while our reporters have the job of following a crime through the court system for weeks or months.

We write Code 911 items to keep people informed of the criminal activities in our area and to illustrate what law enforcement, fire departments and our court system does each day. Our crime reporting can never be exhaustive. There are times when we’ll make a clear decisions against reporting on something, as well as instances when circumstances (unavailability of information, for example) determine our response. We want to err on the side of public safety, without being alarmist — and with 250,000 people living in neighborhoods around Kitsap County, we’ll never be able to write up everything that is possibly of interest.

But we continue to keep public safety in mind as part of our role. Let me know if you have questions, or comment below.