And while the media was waiting on the outcome of today’s meeting between the ministry and the school managers at the ITVET, one of our media colleagues got into a little back and forth with the police.  Amandala’s Micah Goodin was outside on the verandah near a window and police said that he was in the wrong area, or perhaps thought that he appeared to be eavesdropping on the meeting.  Police asked him to move – but he refused and so they sent for backup in the form of the Northside Strike Team.  The northside officers came and urged him strongly to move, and after some back and forth, complemented by forceful reasoning, Goodin agreed and went quietly, with some protestation.  He joined the other media who were waiting not far away.

It’s a small encounter that was defused without any physical confrontation, but perhaps it is indicative of some chafing between police and the media in these tense times.  Now even though this happened on the northside, and today we asked the southside commander about the importance of friendly police and media relations…

ACP Chester Williams - Regional Commander, Eastern Division South
"I understand that while the media have the agenda in terms of the news that they put out, that as a police organisation we cannot work in isolation of the media because we do have our message we need to get out to the public and the media is the vehicle that we should use to be able to do that."