Ten golden rules for dealing with the press
by Glenn Wicks, of Derbyshire Police

Imagine having the police and the press on your back at the same time. The job of Force Press Officer is not for the faint-hearted. But, as Glenn Wicks discovered, it is often educational and occasionally entertaining. He recorded his Ten Golden Rules on police-press relations to mark his transfer from the Derbyshire Constabulary press office. This is the first of three articles that will appear on HoldTheFrontPage.

I had been 25 years in the force, all of it at "the sharp end", when a mate of mine approached me and suggested that I apply for the job of Force Press Officer.

I have to admit that I didn't think much of the idea, (in my ignorance, didn't think much of the Press Office) and my initial reaction was: "I can't do that job, I'm still alive!"

Well, I did apply, I got the post of Media and Public Relations Manager - you are nobody in this job unless you have a four-word job title - and, nearly four years later, I am still on a vertical learning curve.

I remember well my first real baptisms of fire. The first was when one of our senior officers didn't like what was written in a local newspaper. He called me into his office, listened carefully to my explanation and, in the best management practice, screwed up the press release and threw it at me!

This was followed by my first call to a murder, at Derby. On my arrival at Cotton Lane police station, the senior investigating officer told me to set up a press conference - and then front it. By this time, my baptisms of fire were leaving me well singed, but I was learning.

So, my First Golden Rule: "Don't appear before senior officers or members of the media unless well briefed." It has never ceased to amaze me that police officers will spend hours preparing a speech to the local parish council but they put themselves before a microphone speaking to millions and haven't prepared a word on what they want to say.

I struck lucky with Jill Walden as my mentor and needed to use all of her 20 years in the press office in order to fulfil my role, which is to give support, advice and guidance to all members of the force. The press officers (or PROs as they are normally referred to) will also give advice and guidance to reporters. The media expect to obtain information from us and so it is imperative that news of any incident or crime likely to be of wide interest to the media is forwarded as soon as possible to the press office.

I soon realised that there are lots of different types of journalists who make up the media. At one end of the scale are the qualified, experienced and totally professional people who are by far the majority. These are the people who sincerely want to help us detect crimes and are generally very supportive of the police. At the other end of the scale are the unqualified, the inexperienced and some national hacks who will possibly never speak to you again and who have absolutely no loyalty to either you or the police in general. These are the ones who can hurt you!

My Second Golden Rule then: "If you don't trust the person you are speaking to, get them to read back your "quote". This is when you find out that not all journalists know shorthand and some people don't know what "off the record" means. By building on personal contacts with the media, you also get to know each other.

When I first started, many journalists believed PROs existed just to serve them and were there only to give instant quotes. Their learning curves were vertical too.

Some press believe they have the right to know information but, as Lord Wakeham, chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, said: "There is a difference between the public interest and what the public is interested in."

My job has been to give the best possible public image of the Derbyshire Constabulary. Statistically, only a third of our parishioners ever get to meet a police officer and their opinion of the police tends to be formed by the media.

I am very comfortable when the police service is portrayed by such programmes as The Bill, but not so happy with some of the so-called drama-soaps. In one episode of Cops, I saw a young probationer take heroin before she went to work and, of course, this can't be the image we want to portray if we want people to trust us.

In order to seize opportunities, we need staff to show us in our best light, either leading investigations, warning of campaigns or simply telling people what a good job we are all doing. That's when my Third Golden Rule came to fruition, one the Chief Constable told me: "We will never say 'no comment'."

But to do that, you have to find a police spokesperson, and as soon as there is going to be media interest you find that spokespeople are as rare as rocking-horse manure! You find there are all sorts of excuses, ranging from people who claim to have been misquoted 25 years ago and will never speak to the media again, to pressing engagements that appear from nowhere.

It is a shame that there are so many examples of supervisors who have received broadcast training who will willingly push younger, untrained staff, in front of the cameras. That again was a valuable lesson. There are lots of our staff, between Sergeant level and the more senior ranks who can "talk a good job" between themselves, but are not prepared to do it in front of a microphone.For the next instalment, click here

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