L77 Response Accepted AI-assessed

Police Media Contact Rule

Recommendation

The simple rule included within the 'Interim ACPO Guidance for Relationships with the Media' should be adopted as good practice. This is: "Police officers and staff should ask: 'am I the person responsible for communicating about this issue and is there a policing purpose for doing so?' If the answer to both parts of this question is 'yes', they should go ahead."

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
According to the College of Policing (1 May 2013), the College of Policing adopted the recommended two-part test for police-media contact as standard guidance in May 2013. According to the College of Policing (1 May 2013), this rule requires officers to ask if they are responsible for communicating about an issue and if there is a policing purpose for doing so before proceeding. According to gov.uk (29 November 2012), the Prime Minister expressed support for these police recommendations on 29 November 2012.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 19 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk
This recommendation asks for cultural or behavioural change, which is difficult to verify objectively. The assessment is based on policy commitments, not measured outcomes.
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted
Accepted UK Government
29 Nov 2012

The Prime Minister stated on 29 November 2012: "Lord Justice Leveson makes a number of recommendations that are designed to break the perception of an excessively cosy relationship between the press and the police and we support these recommendations." The College of Policing published Authorised Professional Practice on Media Relations in May 2013 implementing the police recommendations. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-cameron-statement-in-response-to-the-leveson-inquiry-report

Read Full Response
Note: PM David Cameron responded to all 92 recommendations with a single statement accepting them "in principle" or "in part". No per-recommendation response was published.
Published Evidence

Published assessments of implementation progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Check the source type badge to see whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Confirmed Completed
01 May 2013
College of Policing Other

The College of Policing adopted the two-part test for police-media contact as standard guidance: officers should ask whether they are responsible for communicating on the issue and whether there is a policing purpose.

View detailed findings

The recommended good practice rule on police-media contact was adopted.

College of Policing - Media Relations APP View Source
Source
Inquiry Leveson Inquiry
Report An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press 29 Nov 2012
View Source
Responsible Bodies
National Police Chiefs Council Primary
Police Primary
Themes & Tags
Police media disclosure Police Media Relations Guidance Good Practice
Recommendation age 13.3 yrs
Last formal update 4863 days ago