Bedfordshire Police has defended its involvement in television programme 24 Hours in Police Custody after a council urged the force to drop out of the show.
In a leaked letter to police, Luton Borough Council said the Channel 4 programme fuelled ‘Luton bashing’ which damaged the town’s reputation and affected the community’s sense of identity and purpose.
The letter says: ‘We feel that it is time for Luton to end this negative relationship with wider audiences and, if the programme is to continue, for another force to feature in it.’
But in a published response, Bedfordshire’s chief constable Trevor Rodenhurst and police and crime commissioner John Tizard said the show was ‘a key part of our commitment to the public’.
They argued that while the programme had originally focussed on Luton Police Station, it now covered the whole county, and important topics like male violence against women and girls and serious and organised crime.
Local partners have thanked the force for raising issues like serious sexual offences and domestic abuse ‘on such a prominent platform’, they added.
The force said it had listened to the council’s views but ultimately decided the programme made a positive contribution to 'policing, transparency and public understanding of police work'.
However, police agreed to raise the council's concerns with producers to see what could be done to reduce negative perceptions of Luton.
