Police forces across the country are becoming ever more reluctant to tell the press about incidents that have taken place on their patch. (It's that pesky fear of crime again - if nobody knows about it, there's nothing to worry about.)
Reluctant, that is, until you offer them a slot on Crimewatch, at which point you'll get a stampede of officers happy to put their faces in front of the cameras on prime-time BBC1.
The latest example unfolded today when we were told about a rather scary sounding burglary down the road in Banstead. The victims were tied up in their own home, threatened with shotguns and robbed of goods worth £200,000.
Quite a newsworthy incident, but it took Surrey Police an astonishing TEN WEEKS to get round to telling anyone about it.
And what finally prodded them into action? The chance to share some screentime with Kirsty Young, of course.
This is a scenario I've seen many times before, although rarely with such a major crime and rarely with such a ridiculous delay in bringing it to our attention.
Laughably, the belated press release comes complete with an appeal for anybody who may have witnessed the incident to come forward. Strikes me they might have had a much better chance of success if they'd asked when it was slightly fresher in people's minds.
I don't expect the police to do reporters' jobs for them, but I DO find it astonishing incidents like this can go unmentioned until the BBC decides it is of sufficient interest.
1 comment:
I think it's absolutely atrocious the police authority charges us council tax and won't tell us what they are doing with it.
Surrey Police are moaning that they don't get enough money in grants from central government because the government thinks it's a safe place and doesn't need as much funding as everywhere else. That one backfired a bit eh?
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