Men Off The Beat SIR,—The article by Donald McLachlan and
the sub- sequent letter by T. A. Sandrock, chairman of the Crime Reporters' Association, seem to us to miss one important point. Each of the Metropolitan Police Divisional Detective Superintendents, the officers actually in charge of important investigations, is authorised to hold press conferences in his respec- tive Division, or to make statements to the press, whenever he deems such a conference or statement expedient, subject only to his obtaining the prior authority of the Detective Chief Superintendent in his district (as Mr Sandrock says there are four) and by arrangement with the press department here. This enables the officer responsible for the investiga- tion of any major crime in his Division to seek the help of the press and give whatever guidance he, as the officer in charge, thinks is necessary. It also en-
ables the press department to try to ensure that all representatives of the press who are concerned in these matters are informed in advance in the hope that they will be able to be present, and, at the same time, it ensures that press representatives who seek information at this Headquarters after such confer- ences are able to be given the information as quickly as possible.
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