BEING first with the news is obviously important – but there are times when it's wise not to rush into print.

That was the case when it came to our attention that Cleveland Police had apparently used legislation – originally intended to help in the covert surveillance of terrorists and other serious criminals – to access the telephone records of three Northern Echo journalists.

We gave the force more than a week to clarify its position after documents were leaked to us, suggesting it had used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) to access the phone records of our journalists, a solicitor and police union officials. The aim of the application was to identify a whistleblower suspected of leaking information three years ago about an internal Cleveland Police report which had uncovered elements of institutional racism.

But despite being afforded plenty of time to respond to our questions for an explanation, the force would neither confirm nor deny the allegation that it had used the RIPA legislation to pry into our phone records.

In the meantime, the Police Federation – representing rank and file officers – confirmed it had lodged a complaint with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) about Cleveland Police's use of the legislation and that's when we went public with the story.

Here is the official definition of the law: "The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (c.23) (RIP or RIPA) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, regulating the powers of public bodies to carry out surveillance and investigation, and covering the interception of communications. It was ostensibly introduced to take account of technological change such as the growth of the Internet and strong encryption."

The law allows public bodies "to use communications data in the interests of national security, for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime or of preventing disorder, in the interests of the economic well-being of the United Kingdom, in the interests of public safety, for the purpose of protecting public health, for the purpose of assessing or collecting any tax, duty, levy or other imposition, contribution or charge payable to a government department and for the purpose, in an emergency, of preventing death or injury or any damage to a person’s physical or mental health, or of mitigating any injury or damage to a person’s physical or mental health."

In the age of the internet, I can see why the law was introduced but it is very hard to see any justification in that definition for using the legislation to hunt down a whistle-blower via journalists' phone records.

No crime had been committed and there was never any suggestion that The Northern Echo's coverage of the racism report in 2012 was anything other than accurate. Therefore, we appear to have a situation in which a British police force misused the law to try to track down someone for making the truth public.

With no further explanation forthcoming from Cleveland Police, we will just have to await the outcome of the Police Federation's complaint to the IPCC.

How many other police forces and councils are checking phone records to try to establish the source of leaks to newspapers? I'm aware of at least one case of a North-East council which has spent months doing exactly that.

1) How do austerity-hit, cash-strapped public bodies find the time? 2) Isn't it all rather disturbing?

MEANWHILE, there has been some progress since last week's From The Editor's Chair column about Government moves to make it harder for the press to use the Freedom of Information Act to expose matters in the public interest.

The Information Commissioner's Office – the country's official data watchdog – has concluded that the "current checks and balances in Freedom of Information legislation are sufficient".

Instead of trying to restrict the freedom of public information, perhaps ministers should instead be looking at whether there are sufficient checks and balances to prevent public bodies accessing private information such as journalists' telephone records.

FINALLY, the latest addition to my collection of wacky news bills comes from Kent. It's all happening down there.

The Northern Echo: