Surrey Police Media Service Level Agreement

Reporting a crime

If you're a member of the public and need to report a crime or have a general query, please use our public contact us page as Corporate Communications can't take reports of crime or help with general enquiries. If it is an emergency, please dial 999.

 

The Service Level Agreement (SLA) sets out the level of service that Surrey Police’s Corporate Communications Department will provide to the media.

The SLA is a clear framework to enable consistent, open, transparent and professional interactions between Surrey Police’s communications team and the media.

It also offers the media guidance as to the level of service it should receive in consideration to:

• English media law, including the Contempt of Court Act 1981 and Defamation Act 2013.
• The College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice for Media and Communications.

The SLA holds two aims:

• To maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with journalists.
• To align with Surrey Police’s priorities – read more

 

Our SLA will be open to review as we work with media to maintain effective relationships.

 

For journalists only:

Phone: 01483 632000

Email: [email protected]

 

Our core office hours are Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm.

This service is only available to accredited journalists who hold a valid press card issued by the UK Press Card Authority.

 

Out of hours

To contact our out of hours service, please call 101 or use our Live Chat and ask to be put through to the on-call communications officer.

Any urgent messages required out of office hours will be published on the force’s communications channels, such as our website or social media accounts.

 

Filming requests and notifications

We receive many requests for filming and providing facilities relating to both operational and non-operational matters. If you have a request please find further information on what to do next here.

If you have any questions, or your filming request is urgent, please contact us in the first instance.

 

Documentary requests

If you would like to submit a documentary request, please do so by emailing [email protected]

Please note, there are fees and charges for documentary filming.

 

Classification of media enquiries

If you're a journalist, we will be happy to help you with any media enquiries that have a policing purpose, or concern incidents that are being responded to or investigated by the force. The more information you provide, the better equipped Corporate Communications will be to assist with your enquiry.

Please be aware that we require a road name, town/village name and a time and date to find details of incidents on our systems.

All media enquiries are prioritised by the seriousness of the crime and threat, harm and risk to the public. The purpose of this prioritisation system (below) is to help better manage the expectations of the media so they can plan their workload.

 

Please note that all these response times are subject on a case-by-case basis to the agreement from the Senior Investigating Officer (SIO). The ultimate responsibility for the media strategy associated with an investigation sits with the SIO.

We will aim to respond to enquiries that fall outside these priority categories within five working days.

Enquiries which are prioritised (this is not a definitive or exhaustive list) include:

• Murder/attempted murder
• Terrorism
• Major/critical incidents
• Rape and sexual offences
• Serious violence
• Arson with intent to endanger life
• Fatal road traffic collisions within the last 24 hours
• Serious injury road traffic collisions
• Updates on ongoing investigations relating to serious crimes
• Enquiries relating to Professional Standards
• Protests and disorder

We will also prioritise enquiries which support us in countering mis/dis information or preventing the spread of a false narrative which could cause community unrest or tensions.

 

Here is some further guidance around the most frequent requests:

Arsons and fires

Media enquiries about fires should initially be directed to Surrey Fire and Rescue Service. If the fire service confirms the incident is being investigated as a suspected arson, Surrey Police may publish or provide details about the incident if there is an operational reason to do so.

 

Cautioning

We will not release the identity of anyone who has been cautioned by police. If we are asked about a specific case (adhering to the requirements listed above relating to day/date/time/town/village) then we can confirm that the suspect/defendant in this case has been cautioned.

 

Collisions and major traffic disruption

We will only provide details about road traffic collisions where there has been a fatality, life threatening / life-changing injuries or when the collision is causing major traffic/other disruption. In these cases, we will often issue details proactively on our channels to appeal for witnesses or to notify motorists of major disruption. Please check these channels regularly.

We will endeavour to provide details about minor injury or damage only collisions but please note these will not be treated as a priority. Exceptions may be where a police vehicle has been involved.

 

Condition checks and medical information

Where we have previously advised injuries are life threatening/critical we will endeavour to proactively provide updates if the information is available.

 

Deaths and bereaved families

We will release the identity of people who have died only where there is an operational policing purpose in doing so. We may identify people who have died in suspicious circumstances, providing it supports a policing purpose. This will be done only following completion of the proper identification procedures, and consultation with the person’s next of kin. We will publish this information proactively, using our channels, and the media should monitor these rather than approaching the press office.

We do not routinely identify people who have died in non-suspicious circumstances, including suspected suicides and medical episodes.

We will only respond to enquiries about non-suspicious deaths where there is a large amount of community concern, or it will assist with dispelling misinformation such as a non-suspicious death in a public place – i.e. a public park. Only basic information will be provided such as time, location and confirmation of a death.

There is no operational reason to provide any further information or identity, and we will support affected families’ right to privacy. Identity queries should be directed to the coroners’ office.

 

Misconduct

Surrey Police publishes all misconduct hearing outcomes on its website.

Details of any upcoming misconduct hearings or special case hearings to be held in public, including details of how to attend, are published on our website.

 

Missing people

Missing person appeals are shared with the public and the media in cases if there are significant concerns about their welfare. This is reserved for the most urgent cases which carry the highest risk.

Due to the sensitivity of these cases, information provided will not be expanded upon. Updates will be provided to the media when there is specific new information that is relevant to the investigation or when the appeal is no longer active.

To protect the privacy of a missing person and that of their family, we will only include the first name of the missing individual in any appeals. This is on the basis that the family name of the missing individual is unlikely, in most cases, to add value to the appeal.

If a missing person is found, we automatically rescind permission to use the image originally issued for the missing person appeal. Such images must not be archived or copyrighted by news organisations.

 

Naming a suspect

The force follows the College of Policing authorised professional   (APP) for media relations regarding naming suspects. As such, Surrey Police will neither confirm or deny names put to them and will not provide guidance.

Individuals may be named proactively by Surrey Police if they are wanted by police and there is a threat to life / there is a policing purpose to do so. When the individual is no longer wanted the name will be reiterated to enable the media to identify and close the appeal. For more information about this process, please see ‘wanted people’ below.

 

Photographs – custody

We will release images on all custodial sentences at the request of the media, unless exceptional reasons exist. The release of custody images for defendants who receive a suspended custodial sentence will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Requests for custody photos of defendants on the day of conviction by the media will be considered. If it is unclear at the time of conviction whether they will receive a custodial sentence or suspended custodial sentence, then we may withhold the release of the custody image until sentencing.

Requests for custody photos must be contemporaneous – we will not provide custody photos for non-recent cases.

We will also provide custody photos of defendants sentenced to a Criminal Behaviour Order or a Football Banning Order with the purpose of informing the public of the conditions of the order to prevent any breaches of the order.

To request a custody photo, you must provide Corporate Communications with the defendant's:

• name
• age or date of birth
• address
• details of the offence(s)
• sentence

Please note: we won’t provide custody photos of defendants who receive hospital orders.

If there are safeguarding issues that will arise from the release and/or publication of custody photos, then we won't provide custody photos of these defendants. However, we will always explain our decision to journalists when this is the case.

Sometimes we don’t have custody photos for defendants if they've been voluntarily interviewed or dealt with by way of a summons or postal requisition.

All custody photos have to be approved by the officer in the case before publishing or sharing with the media, so we may not be able to provide the photos immediately.

 

Photographs/video footage – evidence shown in court cases

Once photographs or footage are shown as evidence in court, they become the property of the Crown. In these cases, the CPS own the property but would not own the rights to edit any images or footage. Any request for footage or images would result in a discussion between us and the CPS. Please send in any requests for footage or images at the earliest opportunity so they can be considered. Due to limited capacity, we will not issue footage/images in all court cases but would seek to focus our efforts on those which have address our priorities and have attracted most public/media interest

 

Statistics/FOIs

The press office does not hold the force’s statistical information. Media can submit a Freedom of Information request via our website, however we advise you check our website beforehand in case the information has already been published.

We will not routinely comment on statistical data issued to media as part of the marketing activities of commercial organisations. However, we will respond to enquiries based on our own statistics, Home Office data or ONS data.

 

Media policies

For further guidance around our policies please see the below:

The College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice for Media and Communications here - designed to assist those working in police forces who engage with the media.

The CPS media protocol for releasing evidence heard in open court during court proceedings. The purpose of the protocol is to ensure the media can report on ongoing court proceedings accurately. To adhere to Absolute Privilege, media reporting must happen at the same time, therefore, once we have applied the protocol, if the evidence is safe to release, we will release it. However, we will only provide evidence upon request within seven days of when the evidence was shown or within seven days of the court proceedings concluding.

The IOPC and NPCC joint media protocol – the e protocol sets out the roles and responsibilities of police forces and the IOPC regarding communicating with the media and the public when the IOPC is conducting an independent investigation or managing an investigation under the Police Reform Act 2002.

The Policing and Media Charter – the Charter was launched in February 2026 following consultation between the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), College of Policing (the College), Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and representatives from the media, the Society of Editors, Crime Reporters Association and the Media Lawyers Association. It sets out how journalists and press officers interact with one another, with the overarching aim of strengthening the relationship between policing and the media.