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| Media Chiefs Challenging Effectiveness of Police PR Office |
| By Sheena Brooks |
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Downtown St. Kitts Police Station |
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The Chiefs of two local media houses have called the effectiveness and efficiency of the Police Public Relations Office into question.
The St. Kitts-Nevis Observer Editor in Chief Kenneth Williams and SKNVibes’ News Editor Stanford Conway recently expressed their views on the role of the police PR office and how information was disseminated to the public via the media.
Williams said that often times media personnel found it difficult to get information and receive it in a timely manner from the police via the PR officer. This, he said, could result in erroneous details being circulated to the public through the media.
“When you get the news from the horse’s mouth then you can get what might be per se truth out to the public. If for instance there is a murder in Basseterre it is imperative that the Public Relations Office get that word out to the media quickly. By doing that it cuts off the rumor mill and the public gets the facts as the police have them. When that does not happen then the media houses get information from various persons or witnesses and if you are not careful varied versions of what took place is disseminated to the public.”
He said if media houses could rely on the police to get accurate information in quick time then that would allow for the public to get what is as close to what actually transpired as possible.
Williams went on to question if the Police High Command and its Public Relation Officer were fully knowledgeable about the role the PR office was supposed to play as it related to the promulgation of information. He said because the police relied on the various media houses to get information out and as such their PR officer should become more “media-friendly” and properly trained in the field.
“Persons in the media houses should know that they could call them at any time and get facts but that does not occur now because you cannot just take someone because the person might’ve been good in English in high school and say you will make them the PRO. That person needs to be schooled as to what PR really means and that is not happening. So basically the poor fellow they put there as PRO may not even know what his role might be. He may think it’s his job to keep information from the media and public,” Williams said.
Williams opined that it was possible police officials thought that the less crime was reported, it was a good reflection on the police as the public would mistakenly feel that no crimes were occurring. He warned that this could have an adverse effect on the public.
“Say you have three burglaries in Hamilton and nobody hears about it from the media or anywhere, to the general public we had a good week; that there were very few incidents when in fact that’s not what happened. If the police get that information out through the media that there is a burglar on the prowl in that area then people who normally leave doors and windows open would close them because they now know there is someone breaking into homes. If they don’t know then instead of having three burglaries you may have 10 or 12. So the police disseminating information could act as a means of crime prevention.”
He said in the modern day of telecommunication the police were misguided if they were of the opinion that by not releasing information that news “would not get out”.
Conway too lamented about getting timely information from the department and said it was his view that the Force should place capable individuals in the PR Office.
“Not because an individual may be highly trained in a specific field it should not be taken that he or she is knowledgeable where public relations is concerned. The police depend on the media to disseminate information and when you find you’re being taken on a roller coaster ride getting information from the PRO and he says he doesn’t know at the moment what is going on, I think they need to amend that situation. Every police station and outpost would have the PRO’s number so when something would have occurred he can be contacted and he in turn can have a press release out in time for us to disseminate the information to the public,” he said.
The Observer EIC charged that there was a lack of cooperation from the present and past police PROs, Inspector Vaughan Henderson and Inspector Cromwell Henry.
“The current situation is that you have a Police PRO, you call him and he says “I’m in a meeting” and he never calls you back. He should, as soon as he gets out of that meeting call the person back, apologize and inquire what it is the person wanted and if at that point he doesn’t have the information, he should go and get it and pass it on. But that is not happening.”
Conway however, said he never found himself wanting for information during the tenure of Inspector Cromwell Henry. “He was always on the ball,” Conway commended, “Even if he was in church he would text to say that and say he would get you the information as soon as he got out.”
Williams disagreed, saying he was never able to get Inspector Henry to return his calls or “answer any query that I had”.
“He [Henry] and the one they have there now in my mind is six in one hand, half a dozen in the other. I think in order for us to get any action, all of us as media persons, the next time the prime minister has a press conference, appear there and express our dissatisfaction with the way information comes down to us and I guarantee we would get some results.”
Inspector Henry responded to Williams’ charge saying during his one-year stint as PRO he was never contacted by Williams and denied the newspaper head’s allegations.
“I categorically deny that. During my tenure I was never contacted by Mr. Williams; I’ve never spoken to him or received any messages from him in an official capacity so it was very surprising to hear him say that. I thought I had a very good relationship with all the media houses based on the feedback from them and my superiors. I always made myself available any hour of the day and even nights and the reporters can attest to that because on more than one occasion I was roused from my sleep by media personnel seeking information,” he asserted. He said even under those circumstances he had never embarrassed or insulted any member of the media. Henry said he could not begin to speculate as to Williams’ motives for making the claims.
Henderson was less vocal about the media chiefs’ opinion of the efficiency of his office. He said he would not engage in any verbal “back and forth”.
“One should always be able to take criticism; take it, try to improve and move forward.” |
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