A retired police chief has hit out at his former employers after a regional daily discovered hundreds of crimes on its patch were being kept secret.
A Freedom of Information request by The Argus, Brighton, revealed that the public had been kept in the dark about 785 crimes – including rapes, robberies and kidnappings – during a fortnight-long period in March.
Other serious incidents left unreported included possession of firearms or other weapons, drugs trafficking and threats to kill.
In that same two week timeframe, Sussex Police released details about just two incidents which had taken place in Brighton and Hove.
Press releases on 114 crimes across the whole of Sussex were produced.
Now Graham Cox, pictured above left, a former detective chief superintendent in charge of Sussex CID, has hit out at the force’s current relationship with the regional press in a comment piece for The Argus.
Mr Cox described how as a young detective sergeant working for Hove CID one of his daily duties was to brief the press, going on to accuse modern police communications departments of “turning out turgid press releases that then run the risk of being recycled into equally turgid news reports”.
Of his past experience, he wrote: “Journalists and police officers had a working relationship, based on mutual respect and a shared understanding that each of us had a job to do.
“We took turns buying the coffee and went to each other’s office Christmas parties. We even – shock horror – shared gossip over a pint in the local ‘police’ pub from time to time.
“Now the police simply issue a bulletin of incidents which this week’s revelations in The Argus show cover barely 10pc of all reported crime, and missing out some of the most serious cases (rapes, robberies and assaults on police) altogether.”
He also attacked the Hacked Off pressure group, which he described as ‘Famous People for Censorship’, adding that police had “mistakenly retreated into a bunker of secrecy and borderline paranoia where all news must be managed” in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry.
Mr Cox added: “Police officers, even whistleblowers, fear disciplinary action if they talk to a journalist. This is self-defeating for the police themselves.
“In a time of cuts to police budgets the service should be taking every opportunity to tell the public, through the local media, all the work they do. The Sussex public need a free, vibrant, independent, probing and yes sometimes irreverent local press.
“At least 200 local papers have closed in the last decade. This makes it harder for us as a society to keep local councils, police and health services on their toes, and it is creating an environment where poor service and even corruption can become routine.
“We are lucky to still have an active print media here in Brighton and Hove. Local police officers should be encouraged to talk to the journalists who call those in public service to account, and take the opportunity tell us all about the good job they do under intense pressure.”
The front page of Thursday’s Argus, which revealed the figures
The Argus reports Sussex Police is still refusing to divulge more information about the serious crimes mentioned, despite repeated requests to its FoI department and press office.
The force’s FoI officer Roger Brace told the paper more details would “require a manual search of the data base” which was “not a requirement” of the police under the law.
Society of Editors executive director Bob Satchwell told The Argus it seemed “ridiculous” the force was not prepared to tell the public about crime and suggested police were trying to prevent fear of crime.
Of the 785 crimes that were unreported, only 119 have so far been classified as solved.
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This isn’t just a new issue.
Ten years ago I was told by a senior police officer that they ‘only tell the press about things they ask us about’.
No real surprise though – if the police can stop people worrying about and asking about crime, it’ll be easier to massage the statistics.
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Well done The Argus. Sadly this has been going on for many years. I always cringe when I see stories about crime figures and whether they are up or down – crime stats are completely meaningless.
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Outstanding rant, couldn’t agree more.
There’s a noticible difference between older and newer police officers I find. Went on a job once with a couple, one was proper old school, looked like Grant Mitchell and used to phone criminals he was coming to arrest and tell them to have their bags packed.
The second was like a cross between Tony Blair and a helmet.
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I worked with many officers who were similar to Mr Cox – honest, decent people with some common sense. Really encouraging to hear him speak out. I just hope that someone at the Home Office is listening.
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Matters to be taken into consideration:
1) The police are our masters, not our servants, even though the servants pay their wages, allowing them to retire at 50 on mega pensions.
2) The Argus got rid of its greatest asset – crime reporter Phil Mills – some years ago. 4.30pm and still no front page lead – ask Phil, and he always came up with a goodie!
3) The ambulance service has been secret for quite some time. The police are now very close behind. Sadly, the fire brigade, is also now lapsing into secret mode too!
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Former Detective Chief Superintendent Graham Cox: “Journalists and police officers had a working relationship, based on mutual respect and a shared understanding that each of us had a job to do. We took turns buying the coffee and went to each other’s office Christmas parties. We even – shock horror – shared gossip over a pint in the local ‘police’ pub from time to time.”
I’m so glad he said this. I was beginning to wonder whether I imagined the way in which the police and press used to work, not just in Sussex but all over the country. And you know what? We got some great stories.
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And how much does that police PR/spin dept. cost taxpayers?
How many PRs does it employ to fend off legitimate journalistic enquiries and issue trash basket rubbish?
I’ll bet more than the number of writing journalists in Brighton.
That’s the pattern throughout the UK; “PRs”, many of whom have never worked in the real media, paid by the public purse to act essentially as barriers to public information.
I’ve tried to find out just how many in the Uk compared with writing journalist numbers but it’s difficult. Any facts on this?
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What’s even worse DGE is the fact that former journalists now working for police PR try to suppress the news as well!
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Grassroots – hang your head in shame – whenever were the police “our masters”?
Fact is, a good hack with a good copper as a contact was a match made in heaven for both parties.
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I fear, Hacked Off, you’ve missed the nuance attached to the comment
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I fully agree with many of the wider comments about police press officers, but I’m a bit bored of these FOI every crime stories. What do you expect? Do you really expect a police force to issue a press release for every incident? Do you really think this was ever the case?
Also, while it’s true that officers have been discouraged from having relationships with reporters and press officers are taking over, journalists have to take their fair share of the responsibility for this.
It is still possible, albeit difficult, to have a good relationship with individual officers but it takes time and effort which reporters are rarely able to expend. Not saying there aren’t problems with the police, but there are also problems with journalists (or at least the way journalists are now expected to work).
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This is a real non-story. The Police didn’t tell you about every crime that happened this week, how dare they! Please can you post links to all the articles you’ve printed where you refer in detail to every crime reported in the last 7 days? That’s right, there aren’t any. Why should the Police waste their time giving you details on over 700 crimes when you’re not going to print them anyway? They publish crime statistics online, there’s a national website where the location and type of every crime is recorded on a map, this stinks of making a mountain out of a molehill to sell papers. Shame on you that you’ll happily damage public/police relations to make a few quid. You are not the public, you’re a profit making company and people should remember your motive for reading this tripe.
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Lazy isn’t the word that covers this department, a small few a great, the rest of the Police press team just hate the press, wrong really because the press is the hand that feeds them.
A £1.2 million pound department that usually sighs when you phone in for a press request.
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When I was a young reporter, I frequently used to drink with police in the pub across the road from the mags court. Picked up no end of tips and gossip, some that provided useful story leads and some that was totally unprintable.
One of the young officers (around my age) became a good mate and we are still in touch, even though we are both no enjoying our retirements at opposite ends of the country.
Our friendship only grew through trust.
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Grassroots.
Point one in your comment isn’t “nuanced” – it is quite clear.
How clear can the comment “The police are our masters, not our servants” be????
And it is clear that you think journalists are subservient to the police, or should be.
No wonder so many papers have for so long just let the police ride rough shod over them, ( if they adopted YOUR sad approach), and then been used at times when the police needed them on a major investigation. Hence the need for old style contacts and trust.
I fear, in any case, those days are long gone for newspapers. How many regionals can boat a “crime correspondent”.
Even if they can, that reporter will also be covering courts and general news.
Phil Mills, and many other superb crime reporters of the era, as great as he was and they were , are a bastion to what was and sadly won’t happen again. The days of drinking in pubs with coppers, firemen, paramedics, councillors, MPs, and getting told, briefed, and handed certain papers, appear to be long gone. You’d get more storied over a few pints of beer in the pub…
Now the papers just seem to be filling pages with Police Press releases – that go unchallenged.
It is a sorry state of affairs. We really have let the police become our masters.
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Fine paper, The Arg.
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If you can’t see the nuance Hacked Off (most people can) it’s not worth explaining as it’s passed way over your head.
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Of course the ;police are not going to comment on every incident but what hacks me off is that when you do find out about one they still won’t discuss it. I remember some years ago ringing a det sgt about a serious incident and his reply was “oh, we don’t need your help anymore as we have solved it.” Outrageous. When I started out 50 years ago we were encouraged to make contacts but, at the same time, buying a copper a pint was allowed to be put on expenses. Now, reporters rarely go out, are not encouraged to meet others in pubs and I even came across one young hack who asked me what a contacts book was. I know times change but personal contact should not.
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Jamie, Sussex, has completely missed the point of this story because he hasn’t actually read the Argus reports. In them yes it shows there are lots of crimes going unreported and there is absolutely no reason why the police should not be releasing this information and they have admitted that. But the most worrying this is that there are a lot of unsolved serious crimes the police have decided of their own accord should not be reported on. This is not transparent, allowing the public to hold them to account/make their own decisions on these crimes/possibly even help with information to solve them.
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