Police new media policy leaves out important details
But on land, the Police Department is introducing a media policy, which is restrictive of certain information to the media. The Department will now apply the Police Public Information Policy and Procedures. It is a document released by the previous Commissioner of Police, Gerald Westby but which was not fully implemented and it finds itself back on the table. During a meeting on Wednesday afternoon with the Commissioner Crispin Jeffries, he concluded that “As a country we have allowed the media blitz to take control”. Some of the points in the Media Policy are reasonable, but others are not. One particular grey area can potentially provide for the cover-up of crimes involving police officers.
Take a look, for example, at page twelve of the Department’s Media Policy. It states that only the Commissioner of Police can release the name of an officer who was on duty at the time of a detainee’s death. This leaves that decision at the discretion of the Police Commissioner. But what is there to hide? Following Wednesday’s meeting with Commissioner Jeffries, News Five asked him to explain why the public should not have information that can lead to their own safety.
Crispin Jeffries, Commissioner of Police
“We want to ask the media to review it and see what we can do together. Hopefully, we’ll be able to change our methods and do something about the way we report crime.”
Marion Ali
“Change the method as in not give as much information as you think is private to the victim or the perpetrator, but John Public who is viewing the news might say that information might be vital to myself and my family if only we had known – who are the perpetrators, how they commit these crimes, what they look for in terms of weaknesses.”
Crispin Jeffries
“That is a two-edged sword because if I can tell you what you can do to protect yourself, I can tell you your vulnerability and inform the criminal of your vulnerability. So there’s sometimes when less said is less known. I agree that the public needs to know, but we’re a very informed public and one can learn from other people’s mistakes. You don’t need to make the same mistake and I’m thinking that the reporting of crime now has been so long in details that anybody out there who has been listening to the Belizean news for the last two, three years is well informed. So for you to know that a crime occurred next door might be sufficient but not to have the person have all the details makes us wonder whether the fact of being in a neighbourhood watch, being neighbourly, aren’t some of the things we should go back to.”
Jeffries promised to meet with the media in a month’s time to make whatever improvements to their Policy.
