View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2007 > July > 10 > Entry
I was a hostage for John Mark Karr
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
John Mark Karr was arrested this past weekend.
Unless you’re in a coma you should know this. This isn’t about him. It’s about everything that happened as a result.
I’m the public information officer for the Sandy Springs police department. I got a call from the lieutenant around 1:30 a.m. Saturday. He said John Mark Karr was arrested about midnight and I might get some media calls. I think that’s what he said. I don’t really know. I was in a deep sleep, dreaming something about me, a Viking ship, and a gnome, sitting at the Waffle House, telling me that my fonts were unsatisfactory. I think his name was Sven.
8:00 Saturday morning:
My cell phone starts ringing. I know the numbers of the regular press folks and sure enough, this is one of them. They ask me something about John Mark Karr. Now I remembered that I got a call about Karr and it wasn’t part of the dream—about the gnome—and why would he car eabout my fonts anyway?
I told them I’d get the particulars and get back. Look for an e-mailed press release shortly.
8:35, 37, 40, 45….more calls, all from media. Say goodbye to Saturday morning.
9:15-The press release is done. In an informative way, it says almost nothing. This report was classified as a domestic violence report meaning there isn’t much information that I can release so I made it a point to accentuate the obvious. For example, I confirmed that all parties were human beings.
Next come calls to confirm the information that I’m really not saying anything about in the press release, just in case I left something that says nothing, out of the document.
9:45 I have confirmed that the lack of information that I put in the original release, has enough nothing in it so that I don’t need to add zero information to what already contains very little.
Local reporters now have enough non-information to begin setting up for the noon news reports, trying to figure out how to report the nothing that they got from me. Fortunately, they have 30 hours of file footage to fall back on.
ROUND TWO National Media calls.
The national media calls. Sometimes they want live interviews. MSNBC wants a live interview so they call and ask me if I can stand by for a moment—meaning ten minutes. They put me on hold. This allows me an opportunity to listen to their program while it broadcasts, very loudly, in my phone. I’m in the car which is not the best time for me to talk to anyone much less do a live interview on a national news show but before I can pull over I’m talking to someone with a fabulous name, asking for the sequence of events. They ask me to describe what is happening right about the same time Detective Sandy tells me to turn left. This confused me so I said something like “The officers received a call at the home of I think I was supposed to turn left there.”
For the sake of the interview and trying not to sound like a goober, I drove in a straight line until the end of the interview. I told them nothing in various general descriptive terms, confirming what they already knew and adding things like “A hearing will be set and we’ll go from there” and “The parties involved will be summoned to a hearing on a future date” which tells you about as much as saying “the sun will be available until dark.” The interview went longer than I thought. When it was over I was in Gatlinburg.
After two days of providing an extensive amount of nothing to the national media, including ‘Entertainment Tonight’ and ‘Inside Edition’, who’s only interest was obtaining mug shots and 911-tape, the frenzy was just about over.
The last piece of this story was to provide nothing to the New York Post whose reporter was less than enthusiastic on the phone. I shared his less than excited attitude because after all, I spent most of my weekend on the phone trying to explain nothing in a new and exciting way for each interview all the while trying to get some chores in as well as a brief trip to the outlet mall. None of us really wanted to spend our weekend covering this because after all, it really was more of a non-press-event than news but when people demand to know the details of what I’m not going to tell them, I’m obligated to convey this lack of information to them—sort of.
I will also have you know that this was not done without sacrifice.
For those of you in a particular outlet store Saturday afternoon, I really was in the fitting room and I really was talking to ‘Entertainment Tonight’ on the phone and although I’m sorry I forgot what I was doing when I walked back out of the fitting room in my boxers, there was no need to have me escorted out by security.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Big K
July 10, 2007 11:35 AM | Link to this
What a life!! I love reading your column!
By Publius
July 10, 2007 11:41 AM | Link to this
Steve, shouldn’t you have arrested yourself for violating O.C.G.A § 16-6-8 at the outlet store??
By Linda
July 10, 2007 12:12 PM | Link to this
I always look forward to reading your articles. I know I will always get a good laugh. Keep them coming!
By Linda
July 10, 2007 12:15 PM | Link to this
I always look forward to reading your articles. I know I will always get a good laugh. Keep them coming!
By Rick
July 10, 2007 12:31 PM | Link to this
Steve, thanks for making me laugh at a time when it was needed. God bless you for your wit and street-smart balance—some things just aren’t worth making more of than meets the eye. You have perfected the art of reasonableness.
By Lex Luthor
July 10, 2007 1:02 PM | Link to this
JM Karr is the lone reason eminent domain needs to be allowed. Turning his house into a park will always benefit the general public.
By Larry, the Dish TV guy
July 10, 2007 1:11 PM | Link to this
Okay, I’ll give…..who is John Mark Karr
By Jennie
July 10, 2007 1:23 PM | Link to this
Why and how does that guy have a 22 yr old girlfriend. Isn’t the whole world on notice that this guy is…. ahem…. let’s say unstable. I know several relatively normal people without partners and this guy is shacking up?! Go figure.
By Missandie
July 10, 2007 2:03 PM | Link to this
When JMK was in Thailand, prior to the false confession that he murdered JBR, wasn’t he in the process of getting sex reassigment surgery?
So in fact, is he a closeted lesbian?
By Missandie
July 10, 2007 2:04 PM | Link to this
When JMK was in Thailand, prior to the false confession that he murdered JBR, wasn’t he in the process of getting sex reassigment surgery?
So in fact, is he a closeted lesbian?
I’m just asking.
By GaLiberal
July 10, 2007 2:43 PM | Link to this
Mr. Karr is simply a target for the police. I’d bet that cops pull him over for any minor infraction like not signaling a lane change just so they can have “probable cause” to look for kiddie porn or the like. Then you have idiots like Lex Luthor that think it’s OK just to bulldoze his house even though he’s committed no crime. Granted he seeks negative publicity, but that’s no excuse to treat him as less than human.
By Cassie
July 10, 2007 3:10 PM | Link to this
I just have one question for Mr. Karr….
What brand of eyeliner does he use?
By Lt. V
July 10, 2007 3:57 PM | Link to this
Steve, Being a fellow PIO I feel your pain! Nothing ruins a good weekend or for that matter, a bad weekend, like a has been meida name doing something else stupid. Keep up the great work!
By Koala
July 10, 2007 4:46 PM | Link to this
I thought this guy was a paedophile. He was in Thailand, and they were apparently investigating him for child molestation in that country. Now he reportedly has a 22 yr old girlfriend in the U.S.? And he beats on 85+ year old men? What a loser. And the girl — you’re a loser girlfriend! Your so called boy friend is a paedophile!
By Antoine
July 10, 2007 7:13 PM | Link to this
How about we send Karr off to meet up with Paris Hilton. We can pay for them to jet away on a private plane to a desert island. We pay the pilot cash, don’t fuel the tanks, pilot bails, plane crashes, two less pieces of crap to deal with in the media and on the streets.
By Bleedheart
July 11, 2007 4:50 AM | Link to this
Poor JMK is simply one of our many misunderstood humanoids who deserves our unbridled love, respect and money. He certainly should have his pick of nubile 22 year olds, who would naturally be falling all over themselves to offer their love and companionship to this well-deserving fallen angel of a man. First we should have a multi-city, multimedia Live Concert to raise funds for his living expenses, then let’s build him an Alpharetta manse, to signify the best he most certainly deserves from ALL of us who are lucky enough to live on the same planet as this wonderful, poor-abused human being. Kumbayah!
By Dano
July 11, 2007 7:40 AM | Link to this
The AJC article on this a few days ago said that Karr’s new girlfriend had taken him to her church. She said that aftewards she received a email from the pastor telling her she could come back, but not to never bring Karr back.
Now if that is a poor excuse for a so-called Christian church, I don’t know what is. I am a cop, with 15 years on the force, and while Karr may seem wierd or have a suspicioius past, it is no reason to tell him he is not welcome in any church or community.
Like it or not, this is still America, and we are free to live anywhere we want. He is not a sex offender, so he can live anywhere he wants. I for one would not go back to that church, as they are definitely not teaching the true aspect of Christian behavior.
By Hotlanta
July 11, 2007 7:43 AM | Link to this
Boy I tell ya white women are something else. They will fool with anythang and everybody. When I saw his girlfriend on television talking about she didn’t want to give her name I was ROTFLMAO. People got the nerve to constantly say that black women are jealous of white women. Please stop the madness. We ain’t jealous at them, we be laughing at them because they don’t care who they mess with.
By CHIP JONES
July 11, 2007 9:39 AM | Link to this
John Mark Karr and Norman Bates from the movie “Psycho”…does anyone out there see a resemblance?
By Lex Luthor
July 11, 2007 1:46 PM | Link to this
Dano,
What’s wrong with rejecting someone like JMK from you community? Are you saying that crack dealers shouldn’t be ejected from a community too? If someone doesn’t want to be exiled then he shouldn’t be into Kiddie Porn.
By Pamela
July 11, 2007 3:43 PM | Link to this
If it makes you feel any better - I was TIRED of all the news on this domestic incident and arrest - WSB reported the story every 15 minutes (just in case someone came out from under their rock and hadn’t heard the news. On a positive note - aren’t you glad you’re not the public information officer for the LA Police/Sheriff Department.
By uqso bqmyi
July 17, 2007 1:08 AM | Link to this
ieoqz cifq eyvtqp njqtwiekp wpuzaqyc kumov diexnrmhg
By uqso bqmyi
July 17, 2007 1:09 AM | Link to this
ieoqz cifq eyvtqp njqtwiekp wpuzaqyc kumov diexnrmhg
By uqso bqmyi
July 17, 2007 1:10 AM | Link to this
ieoqz cifq eyvtqp njqtwiekp wpuzaqyc kumov diexnrmhg
By uqso bqmyi
July 17, 2007 1:11 AM | Link to this
ieoqz cifq eyvtqp njqtwiekp wpuzaqyc kumov diexnrmhg
By Jim
July 18, 2007 10:39 AM | Link to this
Any chance we can send him BACK to Thailand?