Yes.

(Nods head)

No, that's been the tradition within West Midlands police.

Five have a background in journalism -- sorry, five are trained within journalism, and four have a background within journalism, two of those within the print media and two of those within radio, all on a local basis.

I'm the only police officer within the department. So they're all trained police staff members.

Yes.

With bomb hoaxes and security scares, quite often the national media are interested in those and would like to respond to those. We will get calls from the national media saying they have a team but, for example, they'll be based in London, so is it appropriate to deploy ...

Yes, but those professional relationships that have been discussed are exactly what's required for us, to understand each other's drivers and demands and those tensions, to bring about the strength of relationships, especially with the local and the regional media.

No.

I feel at times that there clearly are tensions and Mr Faber did refer to deadlines, but officers are only on duty for a given amount of time. It may be that the person they want to speak to isn't available as and when is required, but we do ...

Yes.

I think that comes down to the relationships and that journalists don't want to be having a disparate relationship with us.

My experience, although limited -- but I have discussed this with my head of news, who has seven or eight years' experience -- it's predominantly the national outlets, because, as we've previously heard, the local outlets are embedded within those communities and rely on the trust and confidence of the ...

Directly. And obviously there'll be staff or officers, but press office staff deployed within that area and we will identify where the issue is and deal with that at source.

Yes.

I think this relates more specifically to when we do have national media involvement in cases and where victims have been in touch with us because there have been intrusive methods to try and obtain details about them or about the case, such as door knocking within the local area ...

I would, yes.

Well, journalists are under pressure because of the dynamics of social media, as has previously been discussed, but journalists follow us on social media, so they're picking up the information that we're sharing directly from source, so either from the force social media accounts or from the officers ...

Mm.

Yes.

Staff are guided to talk within their role and remit and their areas of business and understanding. This is about supporting the force in understanding the information that has been shared and supporting staff in sharing that information, because the issue with officers being approached directly is that there are ...

That's right, yes.

Yes.

It would be something that I would routinely have done. As a police officer within the organisation, I would have sought support, because it wouldn't be something that I would readily have encountered, would be contact with the media.

I don't know the exact date.

It ensures that we have a consistent record of our communications in that area, so we can share that information with the media as a whole.

No, no, sorry. This is specifically relating to a system that is available to my staff, and I know it's previously been introduced into the Inquiry. It's the Solcara Press Bureau system, so my staff, when they receive queries, they will look at the Solcara Press Bureau system ...

Yes.

Yes.

Well, the force policy directs officers to contact -- to inform the press office of contact with journalists so we can support them in their contact with the media and ensure that they're the right person and that they're appropriately supported in that contact.

There is a general gist in relation to the contact and the reason for that contact. We'll understand who the contact was with within the journalistic sense and within the force, and what the rationale and what the purpose of that contact was, and then the communications that came ...

That's correct.

Yes. My department is responsible for corporate communication. So that's all the communications outside of the call-handling function for the force. So we will deal with operational communications, which is the media side of things, but also we deliver to the local areas, so the territorial communications, supporting our ...

I think there's a level of objectivity, and as I come into the department, I will remain there for just a relatively short period of time, approximately two years. So the relationships that are formed, I believe, remain professional and objective. So that adds a benefit to having a ...

(Nods head)

There are 30 in my department.

Okay. Well, it covers the old county of West Midlands. So the black county, Birmingham, Solihull, down to Coventry, I think a population of around 2.8 million people. We have around 13,000 staff, made up of around 8,000 police officers, police staff, police CSOs and specials.

That's correct.

It is.

It's Sally Clare Seeley.