From KTNV in Las Vegas:
In a story that's only on 13 action news, a federal crime happening inside a federal facility and no one is doing anything about it.
Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears exposes the government agency ignoring the writing on the wall.
"When I went in, I was actually dumbfounded."
Travis Knapp went to the Social Security office on Buffalo near Charleston because of one crime.
"My son's social got stolen."
But while there, he saw evidence of another.
The scene? The men's restroom.
"It was completely covered in graffiti. The mirror just completely etched into. The walls--the stall walls and everything."
It's a federal offense to deface a federal building. And against state law, too. But the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says no one from the Social Security office has reported the crime.
Police have a special graffiti investigation unit to tackle what they call the most costly property crime in southern Nevada--with a high success rate of identifying and arresting graffiti vandals.
In fact, Nevada has the toughest graffiti laws in the nation.
But Social Security hasn't said a word.
Travis believes there's another crime going on here--apathy.
"If there's something going on in your line of work, be it graffiti or somebody stealing from your company, and you're sitting there watching it and you don't report it to a higher-up to have it taken care of, you're just as much a part of the problem as the person doing so."
Is there a name for a writing style which glorifies almost every sentence with its own paragraph? Maybe I shouldn't be too critical. It was written for on air delivery.
Apathy of government workers and graffitti on restroom walls. I'm shocked! Shocked! I suppose we'll learn next about corrupt, lying politicians who speak out of both sides of their mouths...
ReplyDeleteIs Travis volunteering to be the person who is "sitting and watching" people going to the bathroom to make sure they don't write any graffiti? Now there's a job for a real man.
ReplyDeleteObviously it was the public restroom, not the employees', and I bet the employees never go in there - so how would they know? Why did the contract cleaning service not report it? There's your criminal.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that not reporting graffiti is a crime. Besides, graffiti is only costly if you try to remove it, which evidently Social Security did not. Maybe they thought their limited budget could be better used elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteVE will use the bathroom attendant job listing.
ReplyDeleteBroadcast writing is very different from writing a news article or legal brief. Each sentence is a paragraph to make it easier to read.
ReplyDeleteMost Social Security offices are not owned by SSA - they are leased. It is the property owner's responsibility to make sure that the building is kept up according to the lease. GSA is supposed to assist with any problems management might be having with the landlord in getting repairs done. Sometimes management's hands are tied as they cannot just hire someone to do repairs without permission from the landlord and also Field Services.
ReplyDelete10:26PM Are you suggesting this was shoddy journalism... sensationalism without bothering to check all the facts! I'm SHOCKED! SHOCKED! I suppose next you'll tell me the slots are rigged and the casinos always win in the end because all the odds are in the houses' favor!
ReplyDelete