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Media

Public order public safety — Authorised Professional Practice

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Summary

The Media section of the Authorised Professional Practice (APP) outlines the necessity for police forces to implement an effective media strategy as part of Public Order Public Safety (POPS) operations. This strategy aims to ensure the legitimacy, legality, and transparency of policing responses to events. It emphasizes the role of the gold POPS commander in developing a media plan and suggests early engagement with media leads. The section also stresses the importance of aligning the media plan with a community impact assessment (CIA) to maintain effective communication, thereby mitigating misinformation and conflicting messages. Furthermore, it advises that any questions regarding public information sharing should be directed to the College of Policing POPS Unit.

Key principles

  • 1Forces must have an effective media strategy for POPS.
  • 2The gold POPS commander is responsible for the media plan.
  • 3Early engagement with media and communication leads is crucial.
  • 4A media plan should accompany a community impact assessment (CIA).
  • 5Effective communication reduces opportunities for rumors.
  • 6Consult the College of Policing for queries on public information sharing.

Full guidance

This page is from APP, the official source of professional practice for policing.

Forces should have an effective media strategy as part of the public order public safety (POPS) planning process.

An effective media strategy will assist in demonstrating the legitimacy, proportionality, legality and transparency of the policing response to an event or operation.

The gold POPS commander is responsible for developing a media plan as part of a POPS operation. They should consider early engagement with force media, communication and engagement leads. They should also consider appointing a bronze media role in the POPS command structure.

A media plan should also be developed alongside a community impact assessment (CIA) to facilitate effective communication with the public through media forums and community engagement. This will assist in providing a consistent message and will reduce the opportunities for rumours or for conflicting police messages to circulate.

Gold POPS commanders should also consider the communication considerations in this POPS APP .

If forces have any queries in relation to what can or cannot be shared publicly, they should contact the College of Policing POPS Unit at pops@college.police.uk .

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Reproduced from the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice under the Open Government Licence v3.0, as captured on 2026-06-27. APP is amended over time — check the source link below for the current version. This is a reference, not operational authorisation.

APP is the authoritative source for UK policing practice and is updated over time. For the current, official version — including any operational detail not reproduced here — go direct.

Read the full APP guidance

Source: College of Policing — Authorised Professional Practice · Crown copyright, licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0. Summary fetched 2026-06-27.