Monday, June 19, 2006

SO LONG, MATT BROWN

The spokesman for the Springfield Police Department is outta here. Brown sent an e-mail to the media on Monday:
Well, the day has come that I knew would eventually arrive and it's one that I'm not looking forward to as I've become very comfortable in doing what I do. However, because of my recent promotion, I cannot stay as the PIO any longer - I have to move on. This week will be my last week as the Spokesman for the PD, next week I will be taking off because I leave for some Army training until December.

I want all of you to know that my 4 years as the PIO for this Department has been one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever had. I have learned many things about myself and have grown a lot because of my contact with all of you. My perception of the media will forever be changed due to what I have learned from you, and the way in which I watched you cover the stories over the years. I started out as a partial cynic and because of you, I've changed my mind as to what and how the media does it's job. I know here locally we've been blessed to have a good working relationship with all of you, and it's one that I've tried to maintain and to improve upon over the years. I know that there've been some bumps along the way, and even though I may not have agreed with some of the stories done, I hope that it can at least been said that you were treated courteously and professionally. I am grateful for the friends that I have made along the way, of which I hope will remain lifelong friends.

I wish I could name names, and personally thank all those individuals who've made this job a pleasure to have, but the list would be too long and the guilt of omission would certainly befall me as I would leave someone's name out. Suffice it to say that I have grown to trust many of you - something that is sometimes difficult in the relationship between the police and the media. The trust that was given was never betrayed and a cooperative effort was many times extended to me and the department in the effort to aid us where it was needed.

I will be forever grateful for the opportunity I was given to be the PIO, but mostly I am grateful for the time I have spent day in and day out with all of you - in the rain, in the heat, in the cold - no matter what, it was always fun.

Thank you, and I hope I have the opportunity to work with you again in the future.
We were never able to break him of the habit of using two spaces after a period, or of adding an unnecessary apostrophe to "its." But Brown's a pretty cool guy. We wish him well.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, it would just be easier if all its called for apostrophes; I'm just sayin'. I mean, it happens to the most well-trained of the monkey-typists. It's a shame, really - about apostrophes not Brown.

Anonymous said...

Matt Brown is a very cool guy who handled a tough job with tremendous grace. He leaves some very large gumshoes to fill. And I'm pretty sure he won't miss having to deal with any self-important assholes on a mission to "break him" of his typing quirks.

Ron Davis said...

anon2: tsk tsk. go buy yourself a sense of humor. and a doughnut.

Anonymous said...

.... using two spaces after a period

What? Did the whole world forget to tell me about this rule change?

Ron Davis said...

Amy:

One space after a sentence or a colon, according to the AP Stylebook. Once beaten into you, a Stylebook jones is hard to break.

Anonymous said...

Whatever happened to his predecessor Officer Manlove?

Anonymous said...

Hey, I didn't know there was an AP Web site! Nice work, Red! The very first question and answer today dealt with a word I wrote over and over yesterday - incorrectly! And it wasn't its! (Although I did type an incorrect its yesterday - and corrected the error.)

Joking aside, misspelling words isn't a "quirk." Not if you are in the information business. But geez, comments about Brown's typos should be taken in the spirit in which they are given. It's nothing personal. All of us make mistakes. But we should learn from them. Unless it's its.

Anonymous said...

I'm looking in my AP Stylebook and not finding the one space rule... Ok, this thing has been on my shelf for 10 years... I'll put it back now.

Anonymous said...

I'm using the 1969 edition of The Chicago Manual of Style. Think I should upgrade? Nah....

Anonymous said...

And heaven knows all of humanity must comply with the AP Stylebook.

Anonymous said...

The AP Styleguide God has spoken.

Heh.