Police PR spending hits £30 million per year PDF Print E-mail
by Nigel Green

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POLICE forces in England and Wales now spend around £30 million a year on corporate communications’ departments. Budgets have risen by 40 per cent in the last five years – partly driven by Government demands to hit “public confidence” targets. Former crime reporter NIGEL GREEN asks whether this has shifted the balance of power between the police and the media and whether regional newspapers are now being force-fed propaganda.


WE are just weeks away from an election.

And, while the battle will be fought on a range of topics, there is little doubt that law and order will be high on the list for voters.
The Government is keen to convince us that crime is falling and our streets are safer than they have been in decades.

There is, of course, little new in politicians making such claims.

But, what I believe is new is the extent to which journalists and the police are being used to pump out this propaganda.

A recent report from the Government’s own Scientific Advisory Committee revealed nearly two thirds of Home Office press releases contain misleading or unsubstantiated claims.

Meanwhile, my own research reveals that police forces in England and Wales now spend around £30 million a year on media departments. Budgets have grown by 40 per cent in five years.

Senior police officers claim the rise is largely due to the extra demands from the media.

But I believe there is also a political factor.

Forces are under pressure from the Government to hit “public confidence” targets and reduce the “fear of crime”.

While studying for an MA last year, I wrote a dissertation on police media relations.

In particular, I looked at the control forces now have over regional newspapers.

As some readers may know, I have spent many years campaigning for the police to be more open.

I started my career as Crime Reporter on the Sunderland Echo in the 1980s.

The day to day, personal contact with detectives I recall has given way to a world of “corporate communications” departments, e-mails and telephone “voice-banks”.

However, while more and more money has been spent, journalists have been told less and less.

My local force, Northumbria, spends £1.5 million a year on corporate communications, including nearly £343,000 on its media centre.

Yet my research revealed they release less than one per cent of crimes and the average delay in release is NINE days.

Northumbria deny holding back crimes from the media.

Even when crimes are released, senior officers have to regurgitate identical corporate statements….

“These crimes are incredibly rare…. Northumbria is a safe place to live and work…We will be stepping up patrols to reassure the local community.”

Police officers have become politicians and nobody ever dares deviate from the party line.

The recent case of the Norfolk PC sacked for allegedly giving information on police blunders to the Eastern Daily Press shows how forces deal with those who step out of line.

Meanwhile, journalists are fed endless stories on raids, clampdowns and successes.

If you read the regional newspapers in the North East you would think crime rates only ever go in one direction – downwards.
Even police officers are concerned by this trend.

Clive Chamberlain, Chairman of Dorset Police Federation, has been a PC for 29 years.

He said: “Press offices are a necessary conduit for information but officers all over the country are concerned that there is a lot of carefully laundered PR.

“There has been a growth in spin. I don’t mean lies – just putting out positive stories.

“I think a lot of forces are going too far in the amount of people they are employing to do this. I would sooner see the money spent on extra police officers.”

Mark Thompson, the Head of South Yorkshire Police’s Corporate Communications’ department, confirmed public confidence targets are a factor in their policy.

But he added: “This isn't about spinning figures or presenting the best picture.

“I know many in the news media might argue that it is more managed than it used to be and that there is something sinister in this and yes it is more managed. But it has to be.

“The sheer demand from the media now has made this inevitable but I don't believe it is a sinister development. In fact I think the media get a better service than ever and I think it's entirely right that there should be a robust but trusting relationship.”

Chief Constable of British Transport Police Andy Trotter, who is also ACPO’s lead on media affairs, believes the spending is justified.

Mr Trotter said: “Firstly, I don’t call it PR. It covers a whole range of different activities.

“There is much more demand from the media now. It’s more international and 24 hours.

“It’s not just the one journalist ringing up. It’s hundreds.”

An increasing number of forces, including South Yorkshire, are now even printing and delivering their own newspapers.

Mr Thompson said: “Weekly papers in many areas remain strong and are an important media for us.

“But gone are the days when the news media was the only means of communicating broadly.

“Our audiences are many and varied, consuming an equally varied and wide range of media. We have to adapt to this and this includes police-produced media.

“These aren't alternatives to mainstream news media but they supplement them and to some extent fill the gaps that were always there.”
But where does all this leave journalists?

The research for my MA showed just how heavily the reporting of police-related issues on regional newspapers has changed since I started my career.

Compared to 1989, the percentage of stories on actual crimes and court cases dropped from 76 to 59 per cent.

Meanwhile, the gap has been filled by a dramatic rise in positive PR stories on the police - up nearly six-fold to 23 per cent.

During my research, I was appalled by the number of stories I read – including page one leads and two-page spreads – that had been cut and pasted from press releases.

I believe regional newspapers are now so heavily-dependent on police PR departments that they are scared to bite the hand that feeds.

After my experiences in the North East, it was refreshing to meet Oxford Mail Editor Simon O'Neill, who takes a different approach in his relationship with Thames Valley Police.

O’Neill, who also worked as a crime reporter in London in the 1980s, said: “When I walked in here in 2004 as editor, I couldn't believe the relations in respect of the appalling quality and timing of the information we got.”

After claiming his team had been repeatedly “fobbed off” when requesting information on various crimes, O'Neill carried a page one lead claiming very few crimes are released by Thames Valley.

O'Neill claims the tactic led to a slight improvement in the flow of information.

But he added: “They release lots of PR fluff, such as stories on drugs raids and new community support officers but we still don't get many actual crimes.

“If the Thames Valley example is replicated across the country, there is a danger that newspapers are just going to shovel the crap the police want them to shovel.

“When you balance the fact that resources are decreasing, it is the easiest option. It is exhausting for my team trying to extricate basic information that the public have an absolute right to know.”

Journalists need to keep this in mind next time they are tempted to cut and paste the latest PR release from a police corporate communications’ department.

They have to ask themselves if they are independent journalists capable of checking and challenging spin….or whether they just want to be force-fed.

Notes

This article was first published in the April 2010 edition of Press Gazette.

All quotations are taken from interviews conducted by Nigel Green (quotes were checked with interviewees).

Figures and data were obtained via FoI requests made by Nigel Green in May 2009. They were all made via the police force websites.
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