Guidelines Set in Britain on How Police Should Deal with Media

Police and photojournalists in the United Kingdom are trying to patch things up with guidelines for the men in uniform on how to deal with the media.

The guidelines were first drafted by the media men themselves – the National Union of Journalists, the Chartered Institute of Journalists and the British Press Photographers Association (BPPA) – in consultation with the press bureau of the New Scotland Yard early in 2006.

The guidelines were drawn following recent incidents that soured relations between the police and media photographers who took pictures of public events.

After months of deliberations, the Metropolitan Police Force adopted a nine-point ‘best practice’ guide to working with media personnel, but it stopped short of making them part of the force’s operational orders.

The UK’s Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has agreed that the guidelines will be implemented across the country.

[Via: BJP-online.com]

Published by Chris Malinao

Chris teaches Lightroom as workflow software to photography students at the FPPF, Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation. He also teaches smartphone photography.