Six tips for improving police/media relations

EmailPrintTalk BackRegisterWhat's This

Topics & Tactics for Law Enforcement with Scott Buhrmaster

The relationship between the media and law enforcement can often be defined as strained at best. Reporters, eager for a story and pressured by deadlines and heavy competition, complain that police officials obstruct their ability to get the hot insider information, interviews and images that will help them rise above the fray. Officers on the other hand complain that overzealous reporters serve as a distraction to their work, too, and in some cases may even serve to compromise cases. As a result, police may overlook opportunities to use the media to their favor.

Here are a few tips for improving media relations and using the media to your benefit:

1. Look for creative opportunities to grab positive media exposure

The Grand Rapids, Mich. Police Department has created a monthly TV show called, “Looking Beyond the Blue” which is broadcast throughout the area. The show is specifically designed to give the community a behind-the-scenes look at the kinds of things GRPD officers are doing to benefit the community.

In addition to TV outlets, be sure to explore all other forms of media for opportunities to grab good PR, including radio, print and electronic. On the Internet front, Web sites give agencies low-cost, far-reaching opportunities to share an unlimited amount of goodwill-building information with their communities. To garner radio time, consider offering yourself (with agency permission, of course) to local radio hosts for “Ask An Officer” call-in segments. Along the same lines, consider approaching the editor of your local newspaper to see if you might start a Q&A-type column.

2. Offer an open-car-door policy on ride-alongs

If the idea of being cooped up in a squad car with a reporter has you reaching for the Tylenol, consider rethinking your reaction. Ride-alongs with reporters can serve a twofold purpose. First, they can help form friendly, face-to-face relations between you and area reporters. Second, ride-alongs can serve as opportunities to get to know each other enough to foster a mutual understanding of the challenges of each other's jobs and to resolve misconceptions you may have about each other's interests and motives. They might even help form, dare we say it, friendships that will serve both of you well in the future.

And on the flip side, consider asking if you can ride along with an area news crew on one of your days off. That might sound crazy but you may be surprised to learn how helpful a ride-along like that can be to your understanding of media motives and methods of operation.

3. Make sure the media is there when you're about to look good

If your agency is hosting an event that can garner some great PR (like a police-hosted carnival for sick children or a fundraiser for a family in need), go the extra mile to entice the media to show up. If you typically send out media releases announcing upcoming events and leave it at that, consider following them up with personal phone calls. Get to know what kinds of things assignment editors consider when choosing which stories to cover (like eye-catching visuals) and make sure they know they'll be there. If you can convince an assignment editor that it will be worth his time to send a crew, chances are good he will.

4. Open the lines of communication

An open line of communication between media representatives and agency officials can make a world of difference in police/media relations. It's wise to make an effort to ensure that reporters and media supervisors feel comfortable coming to you with gripes. This will allow you to potentially diffuse ill will that can cause a reporter to look for opportunities to sting you in the future while opening opportunities for you to come to them and be heard should you have complaints or concerns.

5. A little empathy can go a long way — consider developing some

Most reporters' lives aren't all that glamorous. They're often expected to work long hours for low pay. They face extreme deadline pressures. They face stiff competition in a dog-eat-dog industry. They're often juggling multiple responsibilities simultaneously with little or no margin for error. They're tired. They're hungry. And on top of all that, they think someone like you is standing in the way of their ability to grab the story that can, at the very least, get them home earlier and at the very most, advance their career.

And think about this. When you're up to your elbows in a gut-wrenching crime scene or cleaning up after a horrific accident or being forced to deal with a nearly unbearable situation involving a child, you're not experiencing the emotions that go along with that alone. If you look behind you, you'll see reporters. They, too, are being called upon to stand the line and do their jobs instead of going off into a corner and breaking down.

When you think about it, some of the job challenges reporters and cops face aren't all that different. Remember that the next time you have to decide whether you're going to brush off a reporter with a snide remark or give an understanding smile at a crucial time.

6. Get to know their needs and satisfy them when you can

Avoid being adversarial or uncooperative whenever possible. When feasible, give reporters access to information that will help their story. If you know that you could step to the side to let a photographer get a good picture or to let a film crew get some good footage, consider moving. If you've got to deny a reporter's request for something, consider doing it gently instead of bristling, and explain why you're not able to comply. A little cooperation and a friendly tone can go a very long way.

EmailPrintTalk BackRegisterWhat's This