Andy Trotter wants to set up ethics standards for UK journalists and police issues, Journalism.co.uk reported
Trotter is “media adviser to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and chief constable of the British Transport Police.” The ACPO is a “professional forum” of chief police officers.
Specifically, Trotter addressed how 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.”
He wants to set up standards for how the media can report during “major incidents and murder inquiries.” Trotter noted that in response, journalists argue that the police aren’t “proactive” enough in keeping the media informed, so they end up digging around more. He claimed that the issue specifically is with national news outlets and how they handle these incidents.
“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,” Trotter is quoted as saying.
He called for complete transparency from the police in dealing with the press and for the police to provide on-the-record information “generally speaking,” Journalism.co.uk reported.
Trotter’s comments were made at the Society of Editors conference.
StinkyJournalism has written to the Association of Chief Police Officers for more information and will update with any response.