How do media know that suspect has been arrested?

#1 ArthurHislop

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Posted 20 November 2012 - 04:04 PM

Hello. I'm new to this forum, and I hope that I'm using it properly and that I'll manage to find an answer to my question.

I am currently a witness in a police investigation. I know that it's very important that I do not talk to anyone about this, and I have followed absolutely the advice that I've been given by the OIC, not even talking to some of my closest family members and friends about it. I should point out, therefore, that the name I'm using here is not my real name (I chose it by picking two books at random from my bookshelves and taking the first name of the author of the first book and the surname of the author of the second book).

The investigation has not yet reached the stage at which it is possible for the suspect to be arrested, but I know that once one or two further statements have been made he/she is going to be arrested on suspicion of certain offences. What I am wondering is, how do the media find out that a suspect has been arrested?

I know that police forces issue very brief statements to the media, noting the time, date, and location (broadly speaking, e.g. Manchester, Warwickshire, etc) of the arrest, the sex of the suspect, his or her age (again, broadly speaking, 20s, 30s, etc), the nature of the offence(s), the location of the police station where the suspect was taken into custody, and bail arrangements. One question that I have is how the police decide which arrests should be announced in this way to the media. The MPS, for example, announces an arrest around once every two days, which obviously is just a tiny proportion of the total number of arrests.

When these arrests are published in the media, the reports are normally very much more detailed, usually stating the suspect's name, even though the police force concerned will only ever confirm that the arrest has taken place, not who was arrested. How do the media receive this information? I know that individual officers do not provide details to the media. Is the information gathered from neighbours, passers-by, etc?

I know that in some investigations publicity surrounding the arrest of a suspect leads to more witnesses coming forward to provide information. Do the police welcome, or even encourage, media coverage of an investigation, hoping that it will lead to more witnesses coming forward?

I know that I could probably get more information about this from the OIC, but he/she has already discussed the media aspect with me, so I don't want to waste his/her time and/or seem to be unduly concerned about this question.

Thank you very much to anyone who is able to provide me with any information about this.

#2 ArthurHislop

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Posted 20 November 2012 - 06:09 PM

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