PANAJI
Goa Police’s recent standing order banning media interaction except for the Public Relations Officer (PRO) has raised concerns if the elite force is apprehensive about unfavourable media coverage given a series of controversies.
In a recent development, Director General of Police Jaspal Singh has specifically instructed that only the PRO should communicate with the media on any matter.
“Only designated PRO shall disseminate information to the media on major crime and law and order incidents, important detections, recoveries, community engagement initiatives, important technological advancement and other notable achievements of the police,” reads the order under the subject ‘Effective Communication with the Media’ issued on May 31. The order clearly indicated the department’s intention to avoid negative media coverage.
Interestingly, the current PRO of Goa Police Shivendu Bhushan is on a short break, leaving crime journalists without updates on several issues including a rape case registered with the Women’s Police Station.
The department is also adopting a cautious approach to verbal communication. One of the directives specifies that communication with the media should be conducted through written press releases.
“As far as practicable the communication with the media shall be done in the form of written press releases. The same shall be issued by PRO after the approval of senior police officers. Since media interaction is a time sensitive task, the approval may be sought by communication over encrypted instant messaging apps,” Singh said.
It’s yet another policy bans media briefing during the initial 48 hours of any incident except for sharing basic facts and stating that an investigation has been initiated.
Goa Police has been embroiled in several controversies, particularly in the recent past, involving alleged scams such as the recruitment of police sub-inspectors and constables, corruption, and refusal to accept complaints, among others.
