Policy Text
Policy
324Garden Grove Police Department
Policy Manual
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2024/02/15, All Rights Reserved.
Published with permission by Garden Grove Police
DepartmentMedia Relations - 1Media Relations
324.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE
This policy provides guidelines for the release of official department information to the media.
It also addresses coordinating media access to scenes of disasters, criminal investigations,
emergencies, and other law enforcement activities.
324.2 POLICY
It is the policy of the Garden Grove Police Department to protect the privacy rights of individuals,
while releasing non-confidential information to the media regarding topics of public concern.
Information that has the potential to negatively affect investigations will not be released.
324.3 RESPONSIBILITIES
The ultimate authority and responsibility for the release of information to the media shall remain
with the Chief of Police. In situations not warranting immediate notice to the Chief of Police and
in situations where the Chief of Police has given prior approval, Bureau Commanders, Division
Lieutenants, and designated Public Information Officer(s) may prepare and release information to
the media in accordance with this policy and the applicable laws regarding confidentiality.
324.3.1 RELEASE OF INFORMATION
The breakdown of the media team and terminology is as follows: There will be a "Primary"
Spokesperson or Public Information Officer (PIO) for the department. The Administrative Sergeant
will be responsible to coordinate information releases from the Office of the Chief of Police. The
two Division Lieutenants will be the designated spokesperson unless they designate otherwise.
On days that the primary PIO or backup PIO is unavailable, the duty of releasing information to the
media will be the responsibility of a field sergeant. The field sergeant can designate an employee
to disseminate information to the media.
It shall be the responsibility of the designated or assigned spokesperson to prepare and release
factual information to the news media regarding all major departmental incidents, major crimes, or
other newsworthy events. The responsibility for preparation of a news release may be delegated
to a supervisor, officer or member of the department that has firsthand knowledge of the event
or topic. In situations involving a major incident, the Division Lieutenant will coordinate with the
primary PIO to determine who will represent the department.
In the case of feature stories, "in-depth" articles or series that require significant department time
and effort, it will be the responsibility of the primary PIO to coordinate and release this information
to the media. Realizing that these stories may involve information from a variety of sources, the
primary spokesperson will gather information through coordination with Bureau, Division and/or
Unit Commander or their designees.
The assigned spokesperson may act as a liaison between the media and the department in
arranging for or coordinating news conferences. News releases will be completed on the Garden
Garden Grove Police Department
Policy Manual
Media Relations
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2024/02/15, All Rights Reserved.
Published with permission by Garden Grove Police
DepartmentMedia Relations - 2Grove Police Department computer network and made available to the media as warranted. The
primary PIO will be responsible for maintaining and upgrading the list of "Media Contacts."
324.4 MEDIA REQUESTS
Any media request for information or access to a law enforcement incident shall be referred to
the PIO, or if unavailable, to the first available supervisor. Prior to releasing any information to the
media, members shall consider the following:
(a)At no time shall any member of this department make any comment or release any
official information to the media without prior approval from a supervisor or the PIO.
(b)In situations involving multiple agencies or government departments, every
reasonable effort should be made to coordinate media releases with the authorized
representative of each involved agency prior to the release of any information by this
department.
(c)Under no circumstance should any member of this department make any comments
to the media regarding any law enforcement incident not involving this department
without prior approval of the Chief of Police. Under these circumstances the member
should direct the media to the agency handling the incident.
324.5 ACCESS
Authorized media representatives shall be provided access to scenes of disasters, criminal
investigations, emergencies, and other law enforcement activities as required by law.
Access by the media is subject to the following conditions (Penal Code § 409.5(d)):
(a)The media representative shall produce valid press credentials that shall be
prominently displayed at all times while in areas otherwise closed to the public. THE
GARDEN GROVE POLICE DEPARTMENT DOES NOT ISSUE PRESS PASSES
TO NEWS MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES; HOWEVER, PRESS PASSES ISSUED BY
ALLIED AGENCIES SHALL BE HONORED. "Freelance" reporters or photographers
will not be considered as authorized news media representatives for the purpose
of this policy. Media representatives may not bring or facilitate the transport of an
unauthorized person into a closed area unless it is for the safety of the person.
(b)Media representatives may be prevented from interfering with emergency operations
and criminal investigations.
1.Based upon available resources, reasonable effort should be made to provide
a safe staging area for the media that is near the incident and that will not
interfere with emergency or criminal investigation operations. All information
released to the media should be coordinated through the PIOor other designated
spokesperson.
(c)No member of this department who is under investigation shall be subjected to media
visits or interviews without the consent of the involved member (Government Code
§ 3303(e)).
Garden Grove Police Department
Policy Manual
Media Relations
Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2024/02/15, All Rights Reserved.
Published with permission by Garden Grove Police
DepartmentMedia Relations - 3(d)Media interviews with