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March 31, 2005updated 22 Nov 2022 2:54pm

‘Don’t play games with security’

By Press Gazette

By Hamish Mackay

A top Scottish police officer has angrily called on newspaper editors to stop playing games with security.

Assistant chief constable Ian Dickinson of Lothian and Borders
Police has condemned the practice as “ill-judged” and “irresponsible”.

His
appeal came after Craig Jackson, 33, a reporter on the News of The
World’s Scottish edition, was arrested for allegedly giving false
details to get a job as a cleaner.

He was hoping to expose security lapses at Edinburgh Airport ahead of the forthcoming G8 summit at Gleneagles.

Dickinson
told Press Gazette: “There is a very real risk of security staff and
police officers being so aware of the need to spot intruding
journalists – they can and do give themselves away in different ways
from a potential terrorist – that they divert their attention away from
the real risk.”

A spokesman for the News of the World said: “The
reporter was engaged in an entirely legitimate journalistic exercise,
conducted in accordance with the PCC code of practice.”

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