Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wendell Flinchum


 * 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 REDIRECT to Virginia Tech Police. I am convinced by the arguments below by B and Mandsford that this is a WP:COATRACK and that WP:BLP1E applies; as chief, he got in the news only incidentally as part of the coverage of his department's response to events. Mergers from the edit history to Virginia Tech massacre can be handled through normal editing. postdlf (talk) 03:08, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

Wendell Flinchum

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This article is about the chief of the Virginia Tech Police department. He was in the news during the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre and nobody has cared about him before or since. This is textbook WP:BLP1E. "If reliable sources cover the person only in the context of a single event, and if that person otherwise remains, and is likely to remain, a low-profile individual, we should generally avoid having an article on them." Half of the article is a lopsided attack piece detailing how the police (not Flinchum personally) followed up on some bad leads in the beginning of the investigation. There is nothing whatsoever here that could not be covered in Virginia Tech Police or Virginia Tech massacre. B (talk) 16:23, 23 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Merge into Virginia Tech massacre, as appropriate. Strikerforce (talk) 16:34, 23 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Keep WP:BLP1e doesn't apply here and a seperate biography is appropiate because of Flinchum's role in the event you mention because his role is substantial and well-documented not only in the normal new sources we'd think of (newspaper, TV, news magazines, etc) but also in at 4 books on the masacre.  BLP1e also doesn't apply here because Flinchum also received signifiant coverage in 3rd party reliable sources where he was the subject of the article (not the event he was involved in) for his involvement with a manhunt for an inmate that escaped near campus where he received a commendation from the Virginia govenor for his leadership during that incident.  See the first footnote in the article for details. RadioFan (talk) 16:34, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Except that little in the article about either incident is actually about him - it's about the police department as a whole. In the third paragraph (the part that deals with the shootings and comprises half of the article), only two sentences even mention Flinchum. This article is the definition of a coatrack.  As for the number of events ... there is nothing whatsoever to say about him for the Morva situation.  The only event that anyone cares about him for is the shootings. --B (talk) 16:50, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Comment The first 3 references are directly about Flinchum, the USA Today article covers his involvement in the Morva incident as well as Flinchum's background, The CNN article talks about his involvement in both events and includes comments from a base police chief on Flinchum.  The Roanoke Times article is focuses on his history and current educational efforts.  The media, these 3 articles in particular, provide coverages of Flinchum's involvement in both incidents so while the masacre certainly did receive the most attention, it's not the only event "anyone cares about".  Not seeing how you are finding this article as e definition of a coatrack, can you please ellaborate?--RadioFan (talk) 18:41, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions.  -- • Gene93k (talk) 16:35, 24 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Redirect to Virginia Tech massacre or Virginia Tech police. Although WP:BLP1E is often misunderstood as requiring deletion of famous people known for one event (such as Jack Ruby), what it refers to is the question of mentioning someone within the article about the event rather than giving them their own individual article.  This seems analogous to the example given in WP:1E of the difference between Rodney King, and the guy who shot the video of Rodney King being beaten.  I agree that it's a coatrack, along the lines of "it's this guy's fault".  Mandsford 19:34, 24 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I would suggest, for those looking to merge/redirect/etc, that Virginia Tech Police is the correct target for a redirect - he is the chief of the police. That article should probably be expanded to have something more than a one-liner to say about the shootings. --B (talk) 21:20, 24 March 2011 (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.