MALVERN Gazette & Ledbury Reporter Editor Nick Howells has called for a public debate about the relationship between the press, the police and community.

Speaking at this week's meeting of the Malvern Police/ Community Consultative Group, Mr Howells said he was concerned the newspaper was no longer able to give the public an honest picture of crime in the area because it was impossible to get sufficient information from the police press office in Worcester.

He wanted to hear from the public what they expected from the newspaper in terms of its crime reporting.

Chairman Les Eaton said a debate would be arranged at a future meeting if a senior police officer could attend.

Opinion

WE believe it is essential to the effectiveness of the police force that there should be a strong bond of trust between it and the community it serves. That needs good communication and one important channel must be the local newspaper.

Ten years ago, our reporters would have had almost daily personal contact with police officers at all levels. Today our contact is via civilian staff in specialist press offices which serve a wide area.

This could work if there were a genuine commitment at the highest levels in the police force to provide the press, and through us the public, with information that would enable us to present an honest picture of crime in our area, but that commitment does not appear to exist.

At present we get no more than a handful of reported crimes a week from the press office in Worcester, hardly a true picture of crime in Malvern!

The police were unhappy with our story on page 3 last week in which they were attacked by members of Malvern Town Council, who felt more could be done to deal with vandalism in Victoria Park.

That story is a good example of how the current system does not help the police.

Putting to one side the probability that 10 years ago town councillors would not even have made a public criticism of police, that meeting took place on a Monday night. The police press office had three days to respond to our request for a comment and failed to do so. We finally got a reply this Tuesday, a week later, which we have reported on page 8 of today's newspaper.

We have called for a debate on this issue because we believe the public would like the police to be more honest with us and them about crime. It matters because if the public lose faith in the police, it not only damages the force but ultimately society as a whole.