Police threatened with the sack for talking too freely with journalists

  • New guide for Scotland Yard urges officers to keep a note of every conversation they have
    with journalists
  • Report urges officers to ‘watch out’
    for ‘late-night carousing’ and ‘yet another bottle of wine at
    lunch – all media tactics to get you to spill
    the beans’

By
Rebecca Camber

Last updated at 11:46 PM on 4th January 2012


'Flirting': Elizabeth Filkin warned police to watch out for hacks who might try to get them drunk to reveal information

‘Flirting’: Elizabeth Filkin warned police to watch out for hacks who might try to get them drunk to reveal information

Police officers have been warned they face the sack if they have ‘improper’ communications with journalists.

A review into the relationship between Scotland Yard and the media has called for tighter controls on the release of information.

It even recommends that officers should not drink alcohol with journalists because it ‘loosens tongues’.

But it is feared that the rules will lead to less information reaching the public as officers are deterred from speaking out.

The guidelines could also allow police to bypass questioning and the potentially critical glare of the media by briefing community groups instead.

The report, by Dame Elizabeth Filkin, the former parliamentary commissioner for standards, was ordered by former Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson.

It followed allegations that ‘cosy relationships involving excessive hospitality between some senior officers and News of the World journalists’ had undermined the Met’s phone hacking inquiry.

Sir Paul later resigned following criticism of his decision to hire ex-News of the World executive Neil Wallis as a PR consultant.

He had also accepted a £12,000 freebie
at a luxury health spa promoted by Mr Wallis, who was arrested in July
over alleged hacking. Yesterday Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said
there would be ‘no more secret conversations’.

He issued a stark warning to officers
that whistle-blowers who act ‘improperly’ by leaking stories for
malicious, selfish purposes or who merely pass on gossip would face
disciplinary action.

Sir Paul Stephenson

Neil Wallis

Ms Filkin’s report was commissioned by former Met commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, left, who subsequently resigned amid allegations about the force’s PR contract with former News International executive Neil Wallis, right

If leaks did not lead to criminal proceedings,
‘robust’ management action would be required, he said.

POLICE COULD BE BANNED FROM WORKING IN MEDIA

Officers could be banned from accepting lucrative work as media pundits soon after leaving Scotland Yard.

The report said such moves had damaged the Met.

It criticised officers such as Andy Hayman, a former assistant commissioner who was responsible for the original phone hacking inquiry, who became a columnist for The Times two months after leaving the force.

The Times is owned by News International, the company at the centre of the phone hacking scandal.

Dame Elizabeth said: ‘The speed with which some former police officers take employment within the media is a cause for concern.

‘I am also concerned that former police officers, some of whom have been dismissed, take employment with private investigation firms and continue to obtain information from former colleagues.’

The report said there was a ‘range of
contact that is not permitted’ and which, if unregulated, would continue
to damage trust in the impartiality of the police.

Officers are advised to watch out for
reporters’ ‘flirting’ and ‘late-night carousing’, which were described
as ‘long-standing media tactics to get you to spill the beans’.

The report also found that contact
between the police and the media had ‘not been transparent enough’.
Under the guidelines, officers are to be told to brief community groups
instead of mainstream media.

Dame Elizabeth said officers should
‘weigh up the risk’ when speaking to the Press and formalise meetings by
making a note of every conversation, with those records open to a
random audit.

She said: ‘There are lots of other
channels they should be using, because lots of people don’t hear about
what the Met is doing through the Press.

‘They hear about it through community groups, through community and local papers and lots of new media.’

Mr Hogan-Howe said: ‘There should be no more improper contact – that which is of a selfish, rather than a public interest.

‘Anyone found to have improperly shared information will be subject to misconduct and/or criminal proceedings.’

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.

Do men and women of integrity and probity need to be told this? That they do surely shows how lacking in integrity and probity the ‘police force’ ‘is. QED?

Surely no one would flirt with Elizabeth? What on earth is she on about? Silly lady. Who cares what she thinks?

Dishonest uniforms will have the clearest understanding of this message.

What a patronising woman!

Ah, loose lips sinks ships, or in this case exposes the police and MPs to public scrutiny, eg the number of police with a criminal record (DM article the other day) and MPs still claiming over enthusiastic “expenses”.

Hope this includes ACPO

Elizabeth Filkin was the only honest politican ever to have entered parliament and they hounded her out of office several years ago. Why? Because she dared to try to stop them fiddling their expenses. (Keith Vaz and several hundred others will remember her). Her untimely “dismissal” has resulted in the wholesale theft of hundreds of millions of tax payer’s money in false and/or fraudulent “expenses”. The fact the Metropolitan police commissioned Ms Filkin to prepare this report is an indication of the high esteem in which this lady is held. I wish we had more politicians with this lady’s sense of honesty and integrity.

Yet more evidence of the dumbing down of Britain!

Journalists also need to be prosecuted for paying/bribing police officers for tittle tattle.

Elizabeth Filkin: Do as I say, not do as I do. Two faced, money grabbing MP.

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