Police and prosecution can appeal to the public for information to further their case. This requires a balancing exercise between the rights of the suspect (and other people involved), specifically the right to privacy and the interest of criminal investigations. Appeals for information and wanted notices require a medium as well. Also, in order for the appeal to be effective, other (news)media need to publish the appeal as well: it needs to be newsworthy and attractive for the public intended. Based on deskresearch, this article describes how an ever-changing media landscape and different media revolutions affect the appeals for information.

Investigative reporters show an increasing interest in criminal phenomena. Dutch journalists may be allowed access to ongoing police investigations on the condition that they comply with data protection legislation. Working in international cooperative projects, using sophisticated research tools and hot sources, journalists by themselves also manage to uncover hidden crimes that may prompt indictments. The article explores possibilities of future collaboration between criminal investigators and reporters, while acknowledging each other’s professional roles and responsibilities.

Public organizations seem to be in a permanent state of transition in an attempt to adapt to the outside world. A recent development is the emergence of hybrid professional roles in fields such as healthcare and primary education. These hybrids are a midway between managerial and professional roles and are expected to collaborate with stakeholders in tackling problems. This article focuses on the challenges of recently appointed hybrid professionals within a Police team in The Netherlands. We focus on their efforts to find a place and position in their team by analyzing some critical incidents in which they clashed with their fellow professionals. In doing so, they perform ‘identity work’ to find out who they are, both for themselves, as for colleagues. We conclude both identity and identity work don’t come natural in a hybrid professional reality and stress the need for facilitation of professional reflection at the organizational level.

The day to day work of social professionals working with ‘hard to reach’ people, is known to be highly complex. Especially the interdependent relationship with other agencies.
Often problems are not only related to social and welfare themes but also to safety and justice issues. Therefore a wider perspective is asked for. Questions answered in this article are: which elements are being perceived as complex in the relationship with other agencies and how do professionals relate to these elements. Data is used from former research performed within a team working with Roma families. Knowledge, expertise, information sharing and coordination are perceived as complex elements. Good contacts and communication between individual professionals are essential. Understanding each other’s perspective is crucial in achieving a joint effort. Professionals need intensive support in order to keep focused on the values of their work and avoid being led by emotions and issues of the day.