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This week, the Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner published a report on how Lancashire Constabulary handled the disappearance of Nicola Bulley. To recap, Nicola went missing while walking her dog and joining a work Teams call on her mobile, in January this year alongside the River Wyre. Unfortunately, her body was found in the river some three weeks later. In between her being reported missing and her body being found, there was massive interest in this missing person case by national media and speculation by people – many of whom had no connection to even Lancashire – on social media. It rapidly moved from being a missing person case, a normal occurrence for the police, to a high-profile case followed by millions of people.

What lessons from this tragic case could help communicators, public sector or private sector?

The report found that the police investigation and search were very well conducted and resourced. What was done badly was the crisis response. The report found that the media narrative was lost at an early stage, which had a detrimental impact on Nicola’s family and friends, and the confidence of the wider community. This led to wild speculation on social media.

Handling the media (mainstream and social)

Lancashire Constabulary logged over 500 media calls and 75,000 inbound social media comments over a month. On one day there were 6,500 news articles published. TikTok saw 270 million views of the hashtag #NicolaBulley. Amateur detectives descended on the town of St Michael’s on Wyre, hampering the police investigation and using social media to tell their own stories. That is a massive pressure on any comms team. Yet Lancashire police refused the offers of comms help from other police forces. Crisis comms plans need to factor in the capacity to handle the news. That should include bringing in outside help if the case warranted that.

Fill the information vacuum

With a lack of information from the police to mainstream media, an information gap developed. 

Opportunities for non-reportable media briefings, ‘background briefings’, on Nicola’s status as a high-risk missing person or developments in the search, were not taken. Instead, the police released personal information about Nicola weeks later when pushed at a press conference. Something that was avoidable and unnecessary and led to further frenzied speculation on social media.

Manage who can attend a press conference

The police organised 5 press conferences. They didn’t control who could attend. So these were packed with not only journalists but cranks – conspiracy theorists, people wanting to shout their views, and so-called influencers. A press conference is for journalists. Do not exclude anyone who has a press pass. But do keep out the cranks, social media commentators and the public. 

One spokesperson

At the five press conferences held, there were four different police spokespeople. Some were not even media trained. They naturally made mistakes when addressing probing questions. The inaccuracies were not corrected by the comms team afterwards. There appeared to be a lack of trust between senior police officers and the comms team. One designated spokesperson who is media trained is ideal, working closely with the comms team on ‘lines to take’.

Watch out for people with their own agendas

A search specialist, not connected to the police, made daily media calls and filled the vacuum of information left open by the police. He happened to have published a book a few weeks before. He was making contradictory statements, mostly about his own ‘expertise’. Had the police given regular briefings and answered questions, the media would have probably avoided the self-appointed expert. There needs to be a near-immediate response to a crisis, which must be updated regularly. Journalists want developments to an important story. The victim’s family and friends were instead holding daily press briefings, and the police lost the narrative.

Monitor what is being published

Despite the massive number of mainstream media articles, the police only started monitoring what was being said halfway through the crisis. A system should have been in place before the start. With such a mass of media reporting, manual monitoring does not work. You need a good app to automate the process. 

Social media

Despite good practice by the digital team at Lancashire Constabulary of having a social listening system operating 24/7, social media became a massive hindrance to the investigation. The police even enforced exclusion zones for social media commentators (I refuse to call them influencers!). Algorithms on social platforms, confirmed by TikTok, lead users to post speculative content, which is often inaccurate and negative in sentiment. There is little regulation of social posts, unlike mainstream media articles. Treat journalists as the first priority in a crisis and social as the second priority

Coordinate media activity

Communication teams have the expertise to deal with hostile media determined to scoop a story, not the victim’s family. Coordination with the family, therefore, makes much sense. This did not happen with Nicola Bulley’s family. They were not given comms support, and the doorstepping often went badly, until after Nicola’s body was found. Then, they recommended that the family blast the media. Not good practice.

Conclusion

The media handling and communication of information to the public led to a breakdown of public confidence. The conclusion of the report is that the relationship between police forces and mainstream media needs to be rebuilt and that the impact of social media on police investigations and public confidence is significant and must be acknowledged. Every organisation – public or private sector – can learn from examining the crisis response around the disappearance of Nicola Bulley.

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