CEBU Citizens-Press Council (CCPC) Executive Director Pachico A. Seares said the “ban on releasing spot reports is pointless and unproductive.”
“It may set back police-media relations in this community, which have gone well for several years now,” he said in a statement released yesterday.
His statement further read: “Taken with other developments, such as the restriction on release of crime records to Commission on Human Rights, the ban on spot reports may sharpen public suspicion that the police is not giving the true picture on casualties of the campaign against illegal drugs.”
Seares said reporters and editors acknowledged the “right of the police to withhold ‘criminal investigative information,’ that of ‘intelligence value,’ some of which may be found in spot reports.”
“We ask the regional police office, through its community relations officer, to explain to Cebu journalists any change on procedure in the release of spot reports. To beat reporters and their editors, the major cause of concern is any rule that tends to obstruct or delay information gathering,” he said.
Police Regional Office 7 Director Jose Mario Espino said a spot report is an official document and it should not be given.
Espino, however, said the media can still get information through a press release or interview with the public information officer (PIO).
He further said the police station chief is the best PIO who can answer the queries of reporters.
Espino said there are other police chiefs who sometimes gave spot reports recklessly.
“Normally, basta spot report na, may follow-up operation, nali-leak tuloy. Naha-hamper tuloy yung follow-up operation, naha-hamper ang investigation (Normally, once there already is a spot report, and there is a follow-up operation, the information is leaked out. It hampers the follow-up operation and the investigation),” he said.
Director General Augusto Marquez Jr. sent a text message to Defense PNP Press Corps (Depp) president Arnold Bustamante, saying reporters can get reports or crime statistics “at all times.”
“In fact, these stats are regularly released by DIDM (Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management) through the PNP PIO. If detailed reports of case folders in bulk are requested, however, which are obviously intended to gather evidence against police personnel, this needs Presidential Clearance,” said Marquez, the DIDM director.
Journalists covering the police beat learned about the Camp Crame’s order of disallowing the media from looking into the spot reports last Tuesday.
City police
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Joel Doria said the police will still give reports to the media except for sensitive information that might jeopardize operations.
Doria said they will go with the paperless reports through text messages, which contained the initial information of the incident.
“Hanggang maari, kapag ongoing yung operation natin, wag ipapalabas. Sayang naman kung nalaman ng subject, di na mahuhuli (As much as possible, if the operation is ongoing, we can’t release it. It will be a waste if the subject will detect us,” Doria said.
“When it comes to sensitive follow-ups, we can’t give that because the target might sense us. It always ends up successful because right after the operation, we can already give details of the arrest to the media,” Doria added.
The city police chief said the media can still ask desk officers to narrate the reports in the blotter for information just like before.
This, after an alleged text memorandum from Camp Crame was coursed through police offices, which stated that spot reports wouldn’t be given to the media. (JOB, KAL)