This is a common theme trying to reduce the impact of the issue. It would be interesting to see if this has been addressed in the AP Style Book.

The AP Style Books has addressed this for vehicle crashes. Often the press will use ‘accident’ as this takes the humanity out of the wording. They recommend using ‘crash’ as ‘accident amuses there is no blame.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/11/17/crash-not-accident-better-road-safety-reporting-could-save-lives-show-researchers/#1b1f7b8141ba

This is also the case with ‘car’ vs ‘driver’. Headlines will often state ‘Car hits pedestrian’ unless the car hits an object. It will then read ‘Driver crashes into building’.

You ought to hear how cops talk about killing and beating people.

EDITOR NOTE–C’mon guys. This was intended to be an English lesson, not a cop hater post.

Euphemisms are unfortunately necessary in our dysfunctional extreme-PC hair triggered world where people wearing a red hat are repeatedly victims of violent assaults.

“Harvesting” is an accurate depiction for reducing an overpopulation of an invasive species.

For the cop haters – anarchists really – you should do some ride alongs with police on a Friday night. Start with Boise, then Caldwell, then try something adventurous like East LA. It’ll open your eyes.

On the other note-
From an actual BOISE PD press release:
“In response to the threat, two officers fired their service weapons.”
/
Then, she was pronounced deceased.
/
So, what happened? Did she kill herself? Heart attack? Oh, right, don’t write, “they killed her” (or even ‘they shot her’) in the press release.

Editor, it’s not a cop-hater post.
It’s an “everybody does ‘it’ ” post- just cops do it more, to reduce their liability- since they’re the ones killing humans(& sometimes family dogs).

F&G is not really ‘setting a new standard’ either. No PIO can top the WhiteHouse euphemisms: alternative facts, attacks on journalists, and use of “racially charged” messages, etc. “very fine people on both sides” comes to mind.

And it’s not really an English lesson either, right? F&G English is perfectly fine (mine is not though).
So, it’s ALL about presentation, right?- a euphemism.

If cops killing people is ALL justified and based on facts, no reason to obfuscate it with soft words, right?

‘fired their service weapons’ is a lot different than ‘killed her’, or killed 17 wolves.
The complete release: https://www.cityofboise.org/news/police/2019/october/update-officer-involved-shooting-under-investigation/

EDITOR NOTE–We made note of the vague press release at the timehttps://boiseguardian.com/2019/10/20/press-release-creates-multiple-questions-in-police-shooting-of-woman/ We also complained to the copper press releaser at the time.