If you watch the evening news with any regularity, you'll be very familiar with Assistant Commissioners of Police Chester Williams, Edward Broaster, Dezeree Phillips, and maybe even Superintendents Selvin Tillett and Richard Rosado. They - and others - all came to national attention when Commissioner of police Allen Whylie changed the rules of engagement for top cops and media in May of 2013. Here's what he said at the time.
FILE: May 15, 2013
Allen Whylie, Commissioner of Police
"I believe that us having the first hand information is that right person to give that information. So I am empowering you today to feel free to speak to the media. If they call and you have the information, provide the information but at our level also know the information you must provide. We need to balance the right of the public to know against the right of the individuals and the victims that may have reported something. Again, we have to be careful in terms of information we do release but I will want to see the commanders more active in terms of passing information directly to the media."
That was in May 2013, but two and a half years later, with murder rates climbing and no scapegoat in sight, Commissioner Whylie has reversed that position. At a meeting today at the Raccoon street station, Whylie announced that interviews will no longer be given by commanders; instead that job will now revert to the Police Press Officer Raphael Martinez. That decision has been met with widespread condemnation from a slew of media houses - including this one - which consider it retrograde and ineffective. The Police Press Office has planned a meeting with the media next week to discuss the new/old arrangement.
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