Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Bill Lee (law enforcement)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   delete. Per WP:BLP1E. ‑Scottywong | gossip _ 19:07, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

Bill Lee (law enforcement)

 * – ( View AfD View log )

I'm nominating this article for discussion because I'm unsure if it should be included in Wikipedia or not. Bill Lee is the chief of police for a small city (Sanford, Florida, population 54000). That is a significant position, but we don't generally do articles for every local leader. To the best of my knowledge, he is the only local leader from Sanford with a Wikipedia article. Neither the Mayor nor the City Manager have one. He got an article because he was involved with the police handling of the Shooting of Trayvon Martin (a widely reported current event). His actions have been criticized in the popular press and he has taken a leave of absence. These circumstances obviously touch on issues of WP:BLP1E. If we agree that he would not have had an article aside from this current event, then it should probably be deleted and redirected to the shooting article. On the other hand, he is a public figure, so there might be enough notability to justify his inclusion, but I don't think the current article does much to make that case. Dragons flight (talk) 19:43, 5 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Shooting of Trayvon Martin - Being an unelected official at a local level really isn't enough to demonstrate notability. WP:POLITICIAN suggests that a local official must have had significant press coverage - so much so that they're part of the enduring historical record of a place. This single event is not enough to establish that, so he is not notable. Having said that, the redirect might be useful for some people looking for information on the case. ItsZippy (talk • contributions) 21:52, 5 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions.  • Gene93k (talk) 02:15, 6 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Keep. We need articles on public officials just as a reference for their affected populations.  Public office holders are very important public figures-- it's embarrassing for us to do a better job documenting actors than public officeholders.  --HectorMoffet (talk) 12:20, 6 April 2012 (UTC)
 * We only cover significant public officials who're of wider interest. If any article is only of conceivable interest to 54,000 people, we have to think carefully about whether it's merited. It's unlikely we'd cover an actor who never performed outside Sanford, FL. Bill Lee might be notable because he's involved in a nationally-important story, but not because he's police chief to less than 1/100000 th of the world's population. --Colapeninsula (talk) 13:36, 6 April 2012 (UTC)
 * We have lots of pages on the heads of law enforcement agencies. If anything, we should worry about not having enough-- being controversial does increase the chances we've gotten around documenting local officials, but it creates a certain systemic bias. --HectorMoffet (talk) 17:27, 6 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Delete, would be just another anonymous civil servant if not for a single unfortunate event. Would not object to a redirect to Shooting of Trayvon Martin, but I consider this article title to be an unlikely entry point for readers.  Lankiveil (speak to me) 00:35, 9 April 2012 (UTC).
 * Delete Given that it was posted with the same data from the current article and his role is minor it doesn't seem to meet notability. While it is true we have a lack of detail on public figures, Bill Lee played a small role in a big case and his actions have essentially ceased on that case. Might as well have a bio for every lawyer in a case or every officer who played a role in said case. Seems fair under 1E that his role be mentioned in the article as the article doesn't meet WP:NOTE. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 16:43, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Delete The only matter that made him notable is the handling of the Trayvon Martin killing, and he is appropriately included in the shooting and investigation articles. As a result of events surrounding the investigation of the killing,  Lee is no longer in office and a separate biography is not warranted at this time. If more information regarding his role in the investigation should come out, likely it can be handled in the existing articles. Tvoz / talk 21:42, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.