Police directive complicates crime reportage

If one judges the Northcliff Melville Times‘s footprint based on the number of crime articles published at the moment, it might look like Utopia compared to other areas. This is not because crime has dropped, it is because of a SAPS directive on May 24, 2023 that has made it extremely difficult to get comment from the police for articles.

Previously in the paper, Page 2 was more often than not carrying exclusive content about crime where the police, security companies or other law enforcement organisations were used to verify, source and corroborate events or trends for the benefit of our readers.
Media were able to contact a local police station communications officer to verify and discuss a story to ensure accurate and responsible reporting on criminal activity and more. This was crucial to communicating verified and timely information to our readers.

Nicolas Rosenblum, chairperson of the Westdene Sub-Sector Crime Forum under the Sophiatown CPF, says this move is doing a disservice to the community.

“It is vitally important for residents and business owners to be kept abreast of crime trends and criminal activity. People need to know what they may face in their suburb. It is only when we are informed that we can decide to take any action based on the information – without it, one could assume all is well when it clearly is not. I see crime trends increasing based on stats from our small forum with the CPF.”

The Forum of Community Journalists (FCJ) released a statement at the time objecting to the SAPS directive preventing police communication with the press from happening at a station level.

FCJ executive director Marietta Lombard said at the time, “The FCJ believes this jeopardises transparency and negatively impacts community journalists’ role as community watchdogs and informing society.

“The FCJ is also concerned that the volume of inquiries that the SAPS district office will have to deal with will impact turnaround time on police comments, especially at times of breaking news.”

Captain Jeff Phora is the district communications officer for SAPS whom this paper relies on for comment. For the most part, he has been woefully unable to assist when contacted. He is still a police officer who attends operations and other work, meaning he probably does not have the time or capacity to respond to media enquiries that now fall on his desk.

This has resulted in the vast majority of crime articles emanating from private security companies but with little room for journalists to verify with police.

The four stations in the Northcliff Melville Times footprint are Brixton, Fairland, Linden and Sophiatown. The relationship between the station’s spokespersons and this journalist was good, even very good, with the former often alerting her to new issues that could be highlighted or tips that were useful if new modus operandi were observed in our hyper-local areas.

Other newspapers in the same branch as ours say they too are unable to speak to station level spokespersons and are often frustrated by Phora’s slack response when approached for comment.

Crime statistics are only released by the police every three months so being able to identify criminal trends or issues of concern has all but stopped in our reporting.

Lombard said, “It is through the reportage of community journalists that communities often unite with local police officers in the fight against crime and join awareness campaigns to fight off social ills such as gender-based violence.”

In a bid to better understand the move, Northcliff Melville Times has for several weeks been trying to get an official comment from the police to explain to readers why there has been a drop in crime reporting and comments from SAPS in articles.

Phora said back in June 2023, that WhatsApp was his preferred method of communication. Platitudes of “I will definitely get back to you”, or a lack of response at all are the norm.

Some spokespersons speaking off the record say they are frustrated by no longer being able to engage with journalists. There also seems to be no uniform adherence to the national directive with some other police stations commenting on stories or using their CPF to get information into the public realm, while others have adhered to the blanket ban approach.

This journalist has seen first-hand how not having an open line of communication with the police has negatively affected her ability to share information that may be vital for readers.

The recent case of kidnapping at the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens refers – where only after several days of asking, she was told no comment would be forthcoming due to the nature of the crime. That may well be, but in the past, the Parkview police at station level may have provided some tips for users of the gardens to keep safe or to keep in mind to stay safe.

In trying to get comment on the directive specifically, this journalist has had no response. From November 13, 2023 to date, with multiple follow-ups no answer was forthcoming. This despite being sent from pillar to post by, including senior SAPS personnel in the communications space, such as Brigadier Brenda Muridili, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe and Brigadier Michelle Matroos.

Related article: Linden police shares safety tips