OK, I Need Some Help

Someone's going to have to explain this one to me. I'm at a loss.

Thugs bolt from Roxbury Court: Trio faced arraignment for gun, drug charges

Angry Roxbury residents are demanding to know why police left them in the dark about three escaped prisoners – an alleged drug peddler and gun-toter among them – who broke out of a courthouse undetected at lunchtime Monday and roamed free in the neighborhood.

Nope, that's not the part I'm confused on. It's not as though drug dealers and gun-toting thugs are an oddity on the streets of Roxbury.

[Spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley, David] Procopio said police didn't release the photos because they didn't want to tip off the fugitives.

Herein lies my lack of comprehension.

Tipped them off to WHAT exactly?

The fact that they've escaped? I think they knew that already.

The fact that the police might be actively searching for them? Again, probably a foregone conclusion.

"Shhhh. Be wewwy, wewwy quiet. We don't want them to know that we know that they know they've escaped." [/elmerfudd]