Police-Public Media Relations: Issues and Challenges

Abstract

Police-Public relations is the subject of Police-Media Relations. The Police and the media are two institutions that are aimed at ensuring that the society lives well based on lawful and orderly conduct in the interest of justice, fairness and development of the society. The two institutions require information from the public to perform their duties prudently and diligently. However,  they differ in orientation, operational techniques, platforms and public perception. A typical scenario for instance, if there is an uprising, attack, disaster or any such unfortunate occurence, members of the public will be running to safer areas.  It is common see the Police and the media are pushing their way forward into that ‘danger zone’ to perform their individual responsibilities. Both the Police and the media depend on sources for information to facilitate their work, though they differ significantly in approaching the subject matter; thus the Police interrogate to get information, the journalist on the otherhand, interviews to secure information. It is undeniable fact that, the two institutions require each other in the performance of their responsibilities and therefore need to develop a harmonious and cordial relations. One fact is that the Police have bags of information that the media require, likewise, the Police require the visibility and bridge that the media provide to link them with the society in a positive manner in order to have a goodwill from the public. Daily, the media reports on issues partaining crime or about the Police, the crime news and other sensational events excite the public and it enables them to appreciate the effort of the government or that of the Police on crime prevention and control. These inevitably indicates that the media and the police must work together. However, over the years there exists a mixed relation between them, this paper identifies those challenges affecting the duo relations and recommends ways to overcome those challenges.

Keywords: Police;  Media and public relations challenges.