The Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) decided to re-evaluate its newly revised media guidelines, released earlier this month, after meeting members of local news agencies.
The guidelines published on November 9th changed what information is made available to the public and when it is made public. According to the guidelines, certain crimes are not reported until normal business hours, which in some cases can be the next day or after a holiday or weekend.
The guidelines also discouraged journalists from looking for information on weekends or holidays. It also discouraged reporters from investigating social media posts.
After TPD heard concerns from the local media, TPD met with journalists, and Chief Lawrence Revell acknowledged that the department “got the process wrong, we are really serious about our desire to be transparent,” Revell said. He said the changes caused “undue concern and fear”.
The boss admitted that there should have been feedback from both the media and city managers and commissioners before the guidelines were released.
Revell promised to work towards greater transparency between the TPD and the media, starting with the relaxation of the new restrictive guidelines for “incident warnings”. For now, the department’s watch commanders are allowed to release important information outside of business hours if the public information officer is not available.
The guideline has been put on hold for the time being and another meeting is scheduled to discuss the revision of the guidelines.
from Daily Florida Press https://dailyfloridapress.com/tallahassee-police-department-revises-media-policy-tallahassee-reports/
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