Editorial: Just what were they thinking?

Wednesday, July 12, 2000 | 9:32 a.m.

If police officers stopped by your house one afternoon and asked if you knew the whereabouts of a murder suspect -- who might just be in your neighborhood -- you wouldn't hesitate to cooperate. After all, not only is it a matter of individual safety, but it also is the right thing to do to ensure that others aren't placed in harm's way. But Southern Nevada's local telephone company, Sprint, showed it needs a refresher course in what good citizenship means when it faced a similar situation last week.

As the Sun's Keith Paul reported Monday, Metro Police last Thursday went to Sprint in an effort to find one of their employees who was wanted on a murder charge. But, incredulously, the telephone company refused to say where Charles Simon was assigned. "Our internal procedures have always dictated we verify employment but do not give out location," Sprint spokesman Rob McCoy said. Although he acknowledged the need to cooperate with police, McCoy went on to say, "We have to be careful in situations like this. We have to balance the interests of 1,900 employees." It wasn't until one day after first contacting Sprint that Metro Police detectives located the suspect on their own, finding an address for him through a previous arrest for domestic violence.

Leaving aside for a moment the threat this murder suspect could have posed to the public at-large, a reasonable person would assume that the company also would be concerned about the interests of their employees who might come into contact with this individual. Certainly a company should preserve the privacy rights of its employees, but it is outrageous to decline a request by a police officer -- who has a search warrant -- to help locate a murder suspect. McCoy did say that the incident has prompted the company to review its procedures in this area to see if they can be improved. It's sad, though, that a company would even have to think twice about aiding the police who are trying to apprehend a murder suspect.