A police force’s biggest-ever drugs bust was captured in full detail as a regional daily paper dedicated its front and back pages to footage of the operation.
The Burton Mail took the unusual step of clearing the two pages to make way for a wraparound poster picture of officers forcing their way into a suspected drugs den, with the banner headline: PAYBACK!
Inside, eight pages of coverage showcased the drama of the early morning raids, which involved 250 officers from Staffordshire Police and led to the arrest of 17 people.
The paper also carried an interview with a reformed addict whose life was turned around after being arrested in a similar swoop four years ago.
Editor Kevin Booth said: “We knew to expect some pretty dramatic pictures from the operation and I took the decision in advance to clear the back and front for a wraparound – no solus, no earpiece and no sport.
“It’s a tactic you can only use every now and again when the story and images absolutely lend themselves to it. On this occasion, I feel they did.”
The wraparound poster used by the Burton Mail in covering Staffordshire Police's biggest-ever drugs raid
Reporters Rob Smyth and Tim Fletcher, accompanied by cameramen Simon Deacon and Geoff Merryweather, were out on the streets at 4.15am to join the squads leading Operation Nemesis at addresses across the town.
Between them they produced a timeline of the day’s events, with the two reporters updating Twitter as events unfolded, an online link to video footage of the dawn swoop, more than 25 photographs of the raids in progress, a “quotes page” from senior police officers and community leaders, an editorial comment, colour pieces, and a backgrounder.
Added Kevin: “We’d allocated the first eight inside pages for our coverage, so once the reporters and photographers were back in the office we mapped out the running order and got to work.
“Another reporter, Josh Taylor, kept tabs on arrests and charges and also attended a briefing for community leaders where he came across the reformed addict for a great case study.
“My deputy, Emma Turton, and head of content manager (news) James Benstead did a first-rate job with the design and layout.”
Eight pages of news were dedicated to the raids
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Well done everyone. A good all-round effort and result, which hopefully led to extra sales and highlighted the good work of the police in an operation which, I’m sure, took many months to plan.
Poster wraps can’t be used too often or they lose their impact but Kevin Booth’s decision seems to have been spot on.
It’s good that local community journalism is still alive and well in some quarters.
Again, well done all.
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Not happy! It took me ages to find the bloody crossword! they should tell folk if they move things.
I were in a right kerfuffle.
Arthur Wilber
Retired
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Killing off the back page – a major selling point – for a murky image of some side-on coppers with no faces shown? Urgh. Don’t think so. This sort of treatment works well for dramatic flood or fire pictures but this was a poor choice.
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Overkill. Drugs raids are ten a penny nowadays
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Ah, the great British principle of innocent until proven guilty.
I remember the rules we used to follow when reporting arrests, but I suppose that’s just old-fashioned nonsense now.
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Roy Challis, Warwickshire: I agree. Another light week for ads no doubt
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I agree with Breezy. Perhaps 10 or more years ago when I was running a newsdesk we might have considered the first big drugs raid in a town as a fairly major story – but in 2013 it does seem rather over doing things. And front and back pages, plus eight inside pages dedicated to it?
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Couldn’t agree more with Bluestringer. I’ve had a look through the coverage and follow-ups and to me, it pretty much epitomises the textbook definition of creating a substantial risk of serious prejudice to criminal proceedings – “We know that by taking these people off the street, there is a now a gap in the market that we will ensure will not be filled by other criminals …We will do what it takes to take people who are terrorising good, honest residents off the streets”. Where are they going to find a jury that hasn’t already made up its mind, or will they just string them up from the nearest lamp-post? But I’ve had this argument with news editors elsewhere for years, without success. Now the cops say ‘Jump’ and the response is ‘How high?’, for fear of cutting off their supply of nibs about single-vehicle accidents and strimmer thefts.
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‘Drugs raids are 10 a penny..’? You need to read the story, Breezy. This was Staffordshire’s biggest drugs bust involving 250 police officers. And it wasn’t just to rid us of a few cannabis pushers – the build-up to this included a drive-by shooting and a grenade attack on a family’s home! Remember, this is Burton – not Manchester or London. The coverage was well justified.
STOP PRESS: Sales figures just in – highest on a Thursday for more than six months, beating previous best by more than 1,000 copies.
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is it true, Burton Tesco’s have run out of black ink?
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