Thank you, sir.

Yes, it has been common for a very long time, but personally I find it abhorrent that any police officer could release those details to the media and I make that position widely known in any of my interactions with my staff. One of the privileges of being a police ...

Yes. I think that's right. I think it's an issue of balance and how you create confidence in the system by being open post-event. I think one of the challenges that we have is that it's quite difficult to get balance and measured responses within the media ...

I think we've been trying to do that with freedom of information requests. So as we've been getting volumes of information into the policing or requests into the policing service, we've tried much more to put it on the front foot: this is what our plans are ...

I think that's a tricky question, sir. As this hearing is demonstrating, I think there is a balance that needs to be struck, because it clearly is very important that the media have access to accurate, timely information, because that does inform the public, and therefore it goes to ...

Yes. I think we have to get the balance right between giving officers on the front line that do a very difficult job the capacity to explain to the public and the media what they're doing, at the same time as making sure, at the top level of the ...

I think broadly they're in the right space. I think the challenge is in implementation.

I have had the chance to read them and I contributed to the Filkin report personally.

Absolutely.

(Nods head)

I think there is a risk that if anybody chose to engage in a corrupt relationship, they wouldn't record it.

One of the questions we're currently asking ourselves is whether that system is capturing everything. I know that one of the things the Inquiry is looking at is the bureaucracy surrounding potential processes that can be put in place and there may be an argument that trying to record ...

I didn't know about this award at all until I was constructing this statement and included it for the sake of completeness.

My preliminary view is that generally it's in the right space, but I'm not sure it makes sufficient distinction between front-line staff and senior officers in its current form.

Yes. As you say, I have been in the force for five weeks. In the context of the Filkin and O'Connor reports, I have asked for it to be reviewed and revisited and I'm expecting a report back to my chief officer group.

That's correct.

Yes.

Yes.

No.

No, this asked specifically about my experiences in London and there were only a handful of instants where I personally questioned the stories that I saw being reported.

I wouldn't go quite that far. We don't know how it got to be with the newspaper. We didn't know whether it came from the offices, one of the other organisations that may have had access to it or indeed from anywhere else within the Metropolitan Police ...

That's correct.

That's correct. There has been one misconduct hearing and there are further to follow.

Mm-hm.

That's correct.

Yes, absolutely. That's -- I think that's a journalist's function, is to try and get the scoop or the slant on a story.

I think the topic is a difficult one, because I do think there has to be different standards for constables who operate on the front line through to those of us who occupy the most senior positions. As an example, in the world of public order, we were trying very ...

Yes, that's correct.

Generally, it was when I was clarifying a fact that wasn't reportable at that time because it would either disrupt a criminal case at court or would be otherwise disruptive to a policing operation, but it was when I was trying to clarify a point or a fact.

I did have some off-the-record conversations in relation to specific events, notably around the royal wedding, but generally that was in a CRA environment, Crime Reporters Association environment.

All the meetings were recorded in my diary, yes.

From my perspective, I thought it was an entirely appropriate approach.

That's correct.

Not for the print media, no.

I sometimes had to go to a studio to give an interview -- the Radio 4 studio, the studios at Milbank -- but face-to-face meetings with journalists took place at New Scotland Yard, yes.

That's correct.

I believe they all took place in New Scotland Yard and I think all of them were in my office, but I'm pretty certain they were all in the Yard.

I obviously wasn't in the Metropolitan Police Service when Lord Blair was Commissioner, so it's quite difficult for me to comment on the style that he personally had.

I'm not sure whether I would say it was culture, but there was an expectation that may happen.

I think the journalists did find it slightly strange.

I did that in the meetings that are included in my statement, within my office. So I still engaged with the media, but I just didn't do it over lunch or in a social setting.

I think Sir Paul Stephenson gave evidence yesterday about the story becoming about the Commissioner rather than being about the work of the many outstanding officers and staff of the Metropolitan Police Service. So I think there was a sense that we needed to be more proactive in engaging with ...

Certainly before my arrival in London, I think we saw during Lord Blair's commissionership some commentary on his leadership in the media and I think that did impact on the relationship the Metropolitan Police Service formed with the media.

I can only provide commentary on the way that I have approached it, and certainly it's worked from my perspective.

The first step in the process is to make the contact through a professional media office, who will, in advance, have clarity for you about what sort of questions are going to be asked. You should answer questions honestly and frankly and accept that other than in off-the-record scenarios, everything ...

I don't believe I have received media training in London but I have received various levels of media training throughout my career.

That's correct.

I think the challenge of a social setting is if you are in that environment and you're drinking alcohol, then there is perhaps an expectation that you will say some things that you wouldn't say in a more formalised setting and I didn't want to take that ...

It's my personal -- my preferred personal approach is to meet them separately.

I thought that the advice that I should meet some journalists was sensible. I hadn't worked in London for a long while and I didn't have pre-existing relationships. I didn't concur that it should be in a social setting, as I prefer to keep my professional and ...