AP journalists Jack Brook, Claire Galofaro and Michael Sisak were instrumental in uncovering Brouillette’s troubling past and how potential warning signs were disregarded on his journey toward joining ICE. They shared:
Building trust is vital to this kind of work. Without the people who spoke for this story, there would be no story. But that doesn’t happen right away. We need to demonstrate that we’re worthy of their time and trust. We explain what we’re doing... and that we’re guided by the facts, not any preconceptions. There’s a built-in trust that comes with reporting for the AP. We can point to past articles we’ve written and stories that the AP has done to demonstrate the trustworthiness of us as reporters and the AP as a news organization.
Sometimes, just being patient and keeping the conversation going opens doors as people get more comfortable. We spoke with Brouillette’s ex-wife for quite a while before his 18-year-old daughter jumped in and said she wanted to share her perspective as well.
Local advocacy groups identified David Brouillette as the ICE officer involved in the shooting based on videos of the aftermath. We looked through his high school yearbook for details about his formative years, found a newspaper clipping about his military service and requested records on his Army career, other employment and any interactions with law enforcement. Using a small detail in one court filing, we tracked down a lawsuit in which he says he sustained a severe head injury from an accident while training to be a firefighter. This was just a few years before the shooting in Biddeford.
This AP exclusive is already making an impact. Lawmakers are now demanding answers about how the DHS is vetting and training their recruits amid a rash of deadly incidents over the past year. In moments like these, AP is there to hold power accountable and ask the hard questions – but we can’t do it alone.
