That was only the latest in a string of incidents involving race, police and the communities they serve. Recent killings of unarmed black and Hispanic men across the country have sparked protests and renewed conversations about use of force and racial profiling in law enforcement. Protests swept the nation after grand juries decided not to indict officers involved in the killings of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Mo.
Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson resigned earlier this month. South Florida has been dealing with several of its own police-community relations issues this year. In January, the North Miami Beach Police Department used mugshots of young black male suspects for sniper target practice.
In February, a Broward cop was caught on camera slapping a homeless man to the ground at a bus stop. However, this linear approach can create a sense of disconnect within the community, where citizens may feel they have no say in the outcomes—and police personnel are further removed from community needs.
Closing this disconnect between police and community requires involving the community from the start. The most important thing law enforcement can do when building police-community relations is to co-create your mission with those you serve. While developing your mission alone creates polarization, working on the mission together allows departments to preemptively address community concerns, preventing future controversy.
Departments should gather community input on the needs and values of the people they serve and work to instill those insights into the core of the organization. Communities need to be able to see the evidence of the shared mission throughout the cycle. Too often, law enforcement agencies are only transparent about their mission, leaving the community to guess what happens between mission and outcomes. In addition to establishing a mission that truly serves the community, departments must show the community that the shared mission is guiding the entire policing process.
With new transparency initiatives, policy creation is a joint effort. Many departments are developing transparency portals in order to share and facilitate dialogue on important issues such as use-of-force policies. Departments must quickly respond with facts and documentation when there are questions about an officer at the heart of an incident. And a robust internal affairs case management system is crucial to answering these inquiries effectively.
Vidali was also a keynote speaker at the virtual Police Technology eXchange Experience. The Acadis Readiness Suite is the most comprehensive public safety training and compliance software platform for officer performance management, use-of-force reports and cases, decertification, and analytics, and is trusted by more than 2 million public safety professionals and 11, agencies. Messaging Worksheets. Police Chief Articles. The U. Additional Resources. Explain the release of information policy throughout the organization: Be sure that all members, sworn and civilian, understand the rules, and enforce disciplinary measures for breaking them.
Get the message out quickly. Once a preliminary investigation has been conducted to address major points of the incident, craft a press release and send it to the media. Live interviews should not stray too far from the press release. This is a brief from what we know right now. Through its Center for Social Media initiative, the organization offers strategic guidance in four key areas: Getting Started: A review of what social media is and what it means for law enforcement.
Strategy Development: Determining your goals and identifying the resources needed. Putting it into Action: Tutorials and guides on setting up social media pages. Providing Helpful Information to the Community Is there a community policing or neighborhood event coming up? Communicating with the Media One of the most important aspects of relations between police and the media is the need to quickly and accurately spread the news. If you disagree, do so respectfully.
Speak in a professional, courteous manner, and avoid technical jargon. Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective. Avoid plagiarism at all costs. Document all sources and give credit where credit is due. Avoid posting anything that could be considered slanderous, libelous or hurtful. Never use inappropriate language, or harass or threaten anyone.
Always be honest and use your best judgment in all situations.
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