This was a fairly slow day. Derek didn’t have any other stories for me on the budget, so I knew I would just be finishing up the rape story. When I got into the office, I set out on flushing it out.

I was able to write a decent draft with only Captain Pacheco’s interview, in case Derek needed the story sooner than the following week. While I was finishing up the story, I had looked at this document that Morgan sent me the previous day with a ton of data on the police department.

I was able to come up with two interesting story ideas:

1. Traffic accidents were on the increase in Seguin in 2014, so SPD tried to increase their traffic stops to try to cut down on that number. I thought it would be interesting to look at the data of accidents/stops for the first six months of 2015 and compare it with 2014 data to see where the trend was, and also find out of traffic stops are still a priority.

2. The number of arrests were up in 2014, and SPD attributed that to license plate scanners. I thought I’d see how that was going too in 2015, also compare the numbers.

I emailed Derek my finished (without the Liaison interview) rape story, but explained about pushing it if it was okay. I also sent him my story ideas.

He responded back that pushing it was fine, and that it looked like I had two stories. He recommended that I go ahead and get on Morgan about the records requests.

That’s pretty much what I spent the rest of the afternoon doing. I drafted a record request letter and emailed her for the data. I knew it could take awhile for her to get back to me though.

I waited around another hour or so, just in case anyone needed me to do anything or there were any pages to proof. Around 3pm, I told Derek about the email to Morgan, and asked if there was anything anyone needed me to do. He said that I was okay to head out, so I gathered my things and headed off.

About the time that I got back into Austin, I saw an email from Morgan asking how soon I needed the data. I asked if i was possible to have it by next Thursday or Friday, and she said she would definitely get on it Monday. I appreciated that, it looked like I could get my story going next week then.

I was pretty excited to do these two stories. This entire summer, Derek usually has stories and contacts ready for me, then I run the stories and interviews. This is the first time I’ve pitched a story idea and ran one of my own for Seguin. I’m very excited to see how this turns out!