LETTERS Rare invitations
Sir: I refer to your article on 6 December (Media studies) about the warrant which Wiltshire Constabulary executed at the vicarage at Donhead St Mary. You talk about the 'conspiratorial relationship that can exist between the newspapers and the police', and that 'it would seem to follow that they [the police] must have alerted local reporters in the belief that newspa- pers would welcome a grandstand view in a "dirty vicar" story.
I want to make it absolutely clear that the press were not briefed by the Wiltshire Constabulary, nor were they invited along to witness the execution of the warrant. I would hardly wish to compromise the police operation by notifying the press beforehand so that they can visit the loca- tion, making all and sundry aware that police activity is imminent. I rarely invite the media to join pre- planned police operations. Invitations to the media to join a police operation are only considered by this force if the material is to be used as part of a specific pro- gramme or article. The nature of the polic- ing operation is taken into account in con- sidering whether the press should be allowed to attend. On the rare occasions when such press attendance occurs, it is with the police and not beforehand. My officers seek to exercise their duties with discretion and sensitivity. I fully recognise the distress which unwarranted press intru- sion causes. That is why I do not offer the press advance information or facilities just for the sake of it.
Under no circumstances would it have been considered appropriate to take the media along on an operation which was clearly particularly sensitive, such as the one at Donhead St Mary.
Elizabeth Neville
Police Headquarters, London Road, Devizes, Wiltshire
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