Former Avon and Somerset Police chief wants to rebuild trust between media and police after Nicola Bulley case
A former police chief at Avon and Somerset Constabulary[1] has called for trust between the media and police forces to be ‘reset’ and rebuilt in the aftermath of the tragic Nicola Bulley case. College of Policing Chief Constable Andy Marsh said the ‘desperately sad’ death as “shone the brightest light on policing’s relationship with the media” since the Leveson Inquiry in 2012. Writing in an article for the Daily Mail[2], Mr Marsh, who stood down as Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police in 2021, said parts of the relationship between the media and police staff had “cooled”.
After reviewing the Bulley case, the College of Policing – a professional body for all who work in policing – found a “strain” on both sides of the relationship. CC Marsh wrote: “We have heard reports from journalists who struggle to have constructive conversations with press offices, and policing colleagues have spoken of hostile approaches taken by some in the media.” He added that issued stemmed from a “lack of trust” from both parties. “Mutual suspicion can create scenarios where decisions are taken that are not in the public interest,” he wrote.
Mr Marsh worked for Avon and Somerset Police for 34 years, after joining the force as a recruit in 1987. He took on both operational and detective roles up to the role of Chief Superintendent and BCU Commander, first for south Bristol and then Somerset east during his time with the service. He then went onto serve as Assistant Chief Constable at Wiltshire Police and then Avon and Somerset Police, before being appointed Deputy Chief Constable and then Chief Constable at Hampshire Police.
He took on the Chief Constable role at Avon and Somerset Police[3] in February 2016. The College of Policing review found information about Ms Bulley was shared “hundreds of millions of times” on social media, showing “the potential for information and misinformation to become a common truth,” Mr Marsh writes. The CoP’s review into Lancashire Police’s handling of Ms Bulley’s case has been published.
It praised the force’s investigation into her disappearance but criticised it’s media strategy – in particular, it criticised the “avoidable and unnecessary” sharing of “highly sensitive” personal information about Ms Bulley’s struggles with the menopause. Mr Marsh went on to pin some of the tension on ‘financial restraints’ in press offices and newsrooms, adding that striking the right balance of openness and sensitivity ” will require effort and acceptance on all sides”. “We should never go back to the days where the stench of corruption hung heavily around relationships between some in the police and the media,” he continued. “But it appears the pendulum may have swung too far.”
The Chief Constable adds that both police chief and the College of Policing want to help rebuild the trust required “because, as our recent review proves, without it the public will be less well served”.
References
- ^ Avon and Somerset Constabulary (www.somersetlive.co.uk)
- ^ Daily Mail (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Avon and Somerset Police (www.bristolpost.co.uk)