A crime reporter has told the Leveson Inquiry how he was asked to pay police officers for information when working for the News of the World thirty years ago.Jeff Edwards, now president of the Crime Reporters Association, said he was told by his news editor to bribe officers for information after failing to deliver stories. He worked at the paper between 1981 and 1985.He told the inquiry how his news editor suggested he spent company money on contacts.He said: "I said, 'I'm sorry, what are you suggesting?' He said 'You know, you need to put some inducements out there'.""About three or four weeks later clearly my performance was still not satisfactory; he took me to one side... and said, 'You should essentially be bribing more police officers'… A couple of weeks later I was removed from post and replaced."He added: "It was 30 years ago, I can't talk about how things proceeded after that but I thought it was indicative of the culture in that particular organisation at the time... there was an element in there that had a tendency towards questionable, unethical behaviour."Edwards went on to work for the Daily Mirror, where he was crime editor until 2008. He said the paper had a very high ethical standard.He said he met Dick Fedorcio, director of public affairs for the Met, several times but only one on a one-to-one basis. He admitted he though Fedorcio concentrated on papers he thought were more influential but called him a "very professional man".He added: "Some organisations, I think News International, possibly Associated Newspapers, he was more keen to engage with than others."Edwards responded to evidence given by former police officer Jacqui Hames, who told the inquiry the journalist had been allowed to accompany a robbery raid at Heathrow airport in 2004. He denied being offered the access as a favour, and said he had spent months working with officers on Operation Grafton. After a failed raid in 2003, Edwards, who was working at the Mirror, was allowed to join officers on a renewed effort in 2004, and took a photographer who pictured the arrested men.He said: "I don't think I got that because of a special favour – it was an endeavour on my behalf that met with success."He advocated a common sense approach to police and press relationships based on "ethicality, good judgment and integrity".He added: "It's about deft adjustments, delicate adjustments rather than some kind of scorched earth policy, a carpet bombing of the whole system."The inquiry also heard from the Guardian's crime reporter Sandra Laville, who said she feared closing down unofficial contact between police and the media would drive information "underground". She said a mutually beneficial relationship is in the public interest and has "lasted for a long time because it actually works".She added: "I think there's been an overreaction within the Metropolitan Police already, yes. Absolutely. It affects everything I do at the moment."She said a senior officer she had known for years recently refused to discuss a case with her without permission from the press office. Although he was happy to disclose information, the office disallowed it.She said: "I think we already have laws and guidelines in place and I think they should be reiterated. You have to trust police officers, police officers who are investigating serious crimes... you can regulate as much as you like, unless you can trust them I don't think it's going to work. I wouldn't encourage more rules."Paul Peachey, currently crime reporter at the Independent, said it would be obvious to other staff members if he was "regularly wined and dined" by police officers, but said he did occasionally have modest meals with officers.Lord Justice Leveson asked if "expense account dining" meant either party would expect to get something out of a meeting. Peachey said the Independent had a £30 per head limit on hospitality and meals were infrequent, and most press dealings with police were "above board".He added: "Provided that media organisations and police forces remain vigilant I believe that situation will continue, especially given the recent, renewed scrutiny of the relationships."The Sunday Times' Jonathan Ungoed-Thomas told the inquiry he had not accepted or offered any hospitality from the Met, but said he would not have an issue meeting an officer for coffee if working on a story.He said he had not experienced a chill in police relations but admitted press officers tended to give limited information.He added: "By the nature of what press officers do... they give quite limited information. It's come through another person. You're not actually speaking directly - its second hand by its nature."