JANESVILLE — After arrests in an investigation into two shootings between suspects who knew each, Janesville police are explaining what they mean when they say there is “no direct threat to the community.”
In fact, according to police, the public still could face a threat, for example when innocent bystanders get caught in the crossfire.
This could be defined as an “indirect threat” meaning that it is not specifically targeted at uninvolved community members, police said in a news release.
Police say that as they gathered information on the recent shootings, there was no information or suggested actions police could give to the community that would reduce this indirect threat.
Police in the news release didn’t explain why they didn’t warn the public of an “indirect threat.”
Police say they decided that releasing information might compromise their investigation and recognized that information releases would serve only to compromise their ability to protect the community through swift resolution of these investigations.
Numerous times in previous police news releases, they stated that there was no direct threat to the community. A “direct threat to the community” could be defined as a situation where there is reason to believe that violence may intentionally be targeted at uninvolved community members. All the information gathered in these investigations suggested that any violence was specifically targeted at individuals due to their previous interactions with the perpetrators.