The Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) has decided to reevaluate their newly revised media guidelines released earlier this month after meeting with members of local news outlets.
The guidelines released on November 9 changed what information is issued to the public and when it is issued. According to the guidelines, certain crimes will not be reported until regular business hours, which in some cases could be the next day or after a holiday or weekend.
The guidelines also discouraged journalists from seeking information over the weekend or on holidays. Likewise, it deterred reporters from following up on social media posts.
After hearing concerns from the local media, TPD met with journalists, and Chief Lawrence Revell acknowledged that the department “got the process wrong, we are really earnest in our desire to be transparent, Revell said.” He further said that the changes caused “undue concern and angst.”
The chief admitted there should have been feedback from both the media and the city managers and commissioners before releasing the guidelines.
Revell promised to work toward better transparency between TPD and the media, starting with relaxing the new restrictive “incident alert” guidelines. For now, the department’s watch commanders will be allowed to release essential information during non-business hours when the public information officer is not available.
The policy has been put on hold for the time being, and another meeting will be scheduled to discuss guideline revisions.
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How did this get by the city manager and the deputy city manager?
Why are our publicly funded law enforcement departments bowing to the private for-profit Fake News Media PACs? We pay you to protect and serve, not improve the bottom line of the partisan propaganda entities.
The MAIN rule when talking to the Media should be: “ALWAYS tell the TRUTH”.
The TPD treats the public like an adversary. I know why they do it, but that doesn’t make it right. They need to be part of our team, and act like it.