This week columnist Rhys Griffiths takes a look at some of the biggest and most eye-catching stories of the last seven days.

He celebrates some dogged reporting, reflects on a slap on the wrist for a disgraced police officer, and kicks off the search for our most far-flung reader…

Tenacious effort to bring you the news

I’ve recently been thinking a lot about a common complaint we see thrown in our direction, especially since we have started to ask our most loyal readers to support our work by becoming subscribers. It usually goes something like this: “Why would I pay when all your stories are just ripped off Facebook?”

I really wish those people who give us criticism like this, and the other variations on the theme that pop up from time to time, could see behind the scenes and get a better understanding of the work that goes into bringing you the news here in Kent each day, seven days a week.

Two contrasting stories we have brought you on KentOnline this week have, I believe, demonstrated why it is so important that local, trusted, independent media thrives today and in the future.

The first was my colleague Brad Harper’s dogged reporting of the case of a police officer caught naked near a children’s play park.

After covering the disciplinary hearing that saw the former sergeant booted out of Kent Police, Brad followed the case through the courts to its conclusion – an effort that included two 180-mile round trips to Brighton.

It took many hours of work – on Brad’s part and on that of his newsdesk colleagues – to bring this story to light, revealing that the man in question had in fact escaped a criminal conviction. It was an investment of time and resources made possible by the support of our subscribers, with any ad revenue generated by the article a tiny fraction of the cost of putting it together.

The second story was the visit of Queen Camilla to Canterbury on Tuesday. We had a team of reporters on the ground feeding back pictures, video and quotes for our live coverage of the royal visit, which was read by tens of thousands of you on KentOnline. Again, a commitment of manpower made possible in no small part by our most loyal readers choosing to support our work by taking out a subscription.

These are just two examples of the effort put in by our news teams across print, online, TV and radio – all to ensure that we continue to provide the county with the very best coverage we can. Of course, we do find some stories on Facebook – we’d be mad not to use every source we have to find out what is happening in towns and villages across Kent. But there is so much more to producing news than that, and we thank our subscribers for helping to make it possible.

You can help support our journalism by becoming a subscriber today, click here for the very latest offers.

Shock at pervert cop’s slap on the wrist

Like many of our readers, I find that story about disgraced police sergeant Simon Ince rather disturbing. He was spotted by shocked dog walkers loitering with no clothes on in woodland in Medway, and a subsequent search of his phone revealed photographs of the 51-year-old masturbating while naked in the same area months before.

Despite his warped actions, Ince escaped with just a caution – an outcome the county’s police and crime commissioner has rightly branded “disappointing”.

While the process that led to that decision is legally sound, it is hard not to feel that Ince’s actions deserved harsher punishment beyond his dismissal from the force. Although of course all are equal before the law, it does feel to me that police officers should be held to a higher standard of behaviour if trust in and respect for the police is to be maintained.

It is difficult not to think of the case of police officer Wayne Couzens – who kidnapped and murdered Sarah Everard – and the fact that earlier accusations of indecent exposure against him were not taken seriously enough to derail his descent towards killing.

I must state absolutely clearly that I am in no way implying any future pattern of offending on the part of Simon Ince. I merely raise the example of Couzens to point out that there are occasions when the failure to adequately address less serious examples of criminal behaviour can later be seen as an opportunity missed.

Since he avoided a criminal conviction, Ince will only have to declare his caution when applying for certain types of employment. There is a strong argument that anyone dealing with him in the future should have a right to know about his perverted behaviour.

Could you walk from Kent to Ghana?

A story that has absolutely captured my imagination this week is that of Daniel Forrester, who has decided to walk 5,000 miles to Ghana, where he plans to spread the ashes of his late fiancée Caroline Sarpong.

I’m known to be fond of a good hike – some of you will probably have read about some of them on KentOnline in the past – but I’m happy enough with a stroll of 10 miles, rather than crossing continents.

Mr Forrester spoke to my colleagues at KMTV about the plans for his remarkable voyage, admitting that the European leg down to Gibraltar should be relatively straightforward, but that “once you get into Africa it gets a bit dicey”. Classic British understatement, that. Not only will he have to plot a route across the Sahara, but there is also the danger of kidnapping, robbery and traversing contested borders.

“There are lots of dangers to this challenge, from the extreme heat of the desert and big cats to chimps in the jungle,” he said of the year-long walk. “Then of course we have the human threat of kidnapping, robberies and extortion, and political unrest in a few of the countries.”

I can only wish Mr Forrester the very best of luck. It will be an incredible feat if he can make it all the way to Ghana on foot. You can keep up to date with his preparations and the walk itself on his Facebook page, The Carovan of Love.

Finding our far-flung readers

I am sure many of you are already subscribers to The Briefing, our newsletter that kicks off the day with the biggest stories in Kent each morning. If you are not already signed up, you can register for The Briefing and all our other newsletters here.

One of the great things about dropping directly into people’s inboxes every morning is the fact that I often hear back from readers. I was delighted this week to get an email from Gérard Lefèvre, who follows the news from Kent at home across the English Channel in Lille.

He told me: “My main concern is to keep my English fit and brushed up since being a retired teacher does still mean staying alive and curious and even eager to improve one's skills.”

What a wonderful sentiment. And it is great to know we have subscribers in places beyond the boundaries of Kent. I’d love to know where in the world you might be reading this. Can we identify our most far-flung reader? Drop me an email to rgriffiths@thekmgroup.co.uk, I’d love to hear from you.

That’s all for this week. I hope you have enjoyed this column. If not, I’m sure some of our most charming readers will soon be in the comments to tell me why not!