Navigating the Justice beat means knowing your way around the courts and understanding the normal process for handling different levels of crime. We covered a lot of ground with that in mind today. Feel free to check my notes if you need a refresher.
A lot of basic information about daily events on the Justice beat are now online. These include:
* The Missoula County jail roster, which tells you who is in jail and gives you an idea who was arrested last night.
* The U.S. District Court docket, which tells you which cases are scheduled for what and when in that court.
* The city's daily activity report is not online, but gets emailed to a broad list of subscribers. This report is available to the public at the front desk at the Police Department. Peruse the 26-page report I received this morning to see how much goes on in Missoula, and how little is written in this report.
None of this information will do you much good as a reporter unless you know the people and issues that are important to your community. For that, you need to hang out -- but with a real sense of purpose.
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