Trotter said while the relationship between journalists and police is "very good" in general, there are concerns about 'the general conduct of journalists at major incidents'
Credit: Rebecca Naden/PAMedia advisor to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and chief constable of the British Transport Police Andy Trotter has called for a code of ethics to address the way the press conduct themselves when reporting on "major incidents" and how the police brief the media.
Speaking to Journalism.co.uk at the Society of Editors conference yesterday (Monday) Trotter said he views the relationship between journalists and police as "very good" and as having "improved steadily over time", but added that there are "issues to do with the general conduct of journalists at major incidents and murder inquiries".
"It's really to do with the way that journalists conduct themselves at the scenes of incidents, talking to witnesses who we yet haven't interviewed for very good reason, sometimes harassing families and relatives and sometimes getting in the way of the investigation.
"There's two sides to this because journalists say to me if only the local force was more proactive in talking to journalists and briefing them in advance of things that are going on then they would conduct themselves better.
"What I'm looking for and I hope to come out of this is a code of conduct and ethics that everyone signs up to. As one of the real rubbing points of the last couple of years around incidents in Northumbria, Cumbria and Avon and Somerset, three out of many, I have had a lot of complaints from senior officers locally about the conduct of the national media, not the regionals, not the locals, this is about the national media".
He added that police officers need to ensure they are "absolutely transparent" about their interactions with the press, wherever necessary.
"I think we need to be above board and be seen to be above board, so when police officers talk to journalists my advice has been to make sure there's a record, take a date, time and place, who's there with you, have you got a press officer with you, what is it about, what's the outcome and making sure there's a register, particularly if there's any hospitality involved. So that everyone can see exactly what we're doing and who we're speaking to.
"Generally speaking things should be on the record. There may well be, in certain circumstances, a perfectly legitimate reason to give background briefings on particular issues, particularly if the media are going off in the wrong direction. As long as we always tell the truth, which of course we should do, to give guidance sometimes is appropriate ... So there are exceptions to that rule but the guidance I have sent out is we should be absolutely transparent, above board and things should be on the record."
Trotter also spoke to Journalism.co.uk about the training of police officers in their conduct when disclosing information to journalists, adding that "there's been a lot of discussion about this, various inquiries going on into this and legitimate questions are being asked".
"Obviously for police officers to give information on things that they shouldn't give information on is a fairly clear breach of our discipline regulations, to take money from journalists is a clear and obvious breach not only of discipline but of criminal law.
"So it's not a need for regulation but there is a need for guidance, because my fear is that police officers will stop talking to journalists through fear of getting it wrong and I don't want that to happen.
"Already I think we don't get enough from journalists in newspapers about crime issues, good stories about crime issues, because of their particular budget situations, or court results, an integral part of keeping confidence in the judicial system. So I don't want us to stop talking to journalists. I want to give confidence to people that this is where and when and how you should be talking to journalists."
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