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Police & the Press: NCPSO-CWA Gets High Marks for Media Relations Seminar
The crisis: A driver fleeing at high speed from a pursuing police car runs a stoplight and crashes into a minivan killing a 2-year-old girl and critically injuring her mother.
The scene: A news conference at police headquarters the next day, where reporters are rapidly firing questions at a spokesperson.
Reporter: "What's your department's policy on a high-speed pursuit and was it followed to a T?"
Official: "It's too early in the process to respond to the comment."
Reporter: "You don't know what your own policy is?"
Official: "At this time we believe our officers were in full compliance with our pursuit policy."
It wasn't a real news conference, but it wasn't a bad imitation. Through role-playing, police officers attending a seminar put on by the National Coalition of Public Safety Officers-CWA were learning what kinds of questions to expect from reporters and how to respond if they're in the hot seat.
About 60 officers from around the country took part in the two-day seminar in Orlando in June. Most are already NCPSO members, but not all. For them it was a chance not only to learn skills they can use as either officers or union leaders, it was an opportunity to learn what CWA's growing police sector has to offer.
"What we're trying to do is provide law enforcement labor leaders new ways to look at various professional issues," NCPSO Director John Burpo said, noting seminars the union sponsored the past two years on police, media and community conflict. This year's conference was more nuts-and-bolts media relations with presentations that got extremely high marks on participants' evaluation forms.
"They were, to a person, absolutely supportive of the program," Burpo said. "They thought it was exceptionally helpful in dealing with the news media. And they felt that the role-playing was an excellent way for them to take what we were teaching them and turn it into real-life experiences."
The training applied to union work as well as police work. Sometimes the spokesperson at the mock news conferences - they staged four of them and took turns asking and answering questions - was a union leader instead of a police official.
Breaking into the news conference about the deadly pursuit, a union spokesperson said, "I'd like to step in on behalf of the union representing the police officer and just state that this is an extremely tragic event for all parties involved, including the officers. They're grieving, too, and I think we need to give them some time with their families."
"So these cops killed somebody and you're going to pay them to stay at home now?" a "reporter" fired back.
"Well there's a process going on," the union leader said without losing his cool. "We're doing a full and thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding this tragic event."
Power of the Press
Speakers included two experienced media consultants with police backgrounds, a veteran police reporter from The Newspaper Guild-CWA and a police labor leader. Collectively, they offered lots of tips and a few tricks for softening the blow when there's bad news to report or grabbing the spotlight when there's good news or a cause to promote.
But they all made one thing very clear: "You can never, ever, ever, ever lie to the press," said consultant Jim Spearing of Florida, a mantra he and others repeated.
"If you lie to the media, you're lying to the public. You're lying to the people who pay your salary," said Cissy Taylor of the Union Leader in Manchester, N.H., where she's an active member of TNG-CWA Local 31167.
When sources are caught in a lie, speakers said they lose all credibility with the media, hurting not just the individual's relationship with the press, but the union's and police agency's as well.
Almost as bad is the ubiquitous "no comment." "If you say 'no comment' it sounds like you have something to hide," Taylor said. "It's just as easy to say, 'I don't know.'"
And all that stuffy police jargon - such as "perpetrator" or "ascertained" - save it for official reports. When talking to the press, "Try to say it like you're telling your
grandmother what happened," Taylor said.
The presentations, lively and often humorous, taught participants how to define their message and how to present it. One common issue police and other public sector unions often find themselves fighting for in their communities is higher pay.
"Want a pay raise? Talk about safety," consultant Michael Shannon said. He told his audience to keep the message simple and repetitive - "because you can't assume everyone is listening" - and make it appeal to a wide range of community members. "A good message is like an umbrella," he said. "It allows a lot of people to stand under it."
Whether it's a salary campaign or community backlash after an officer-involved shooting, Shannon said union members may complain to their leaders about "why we're taking this flack, why are we dealing with politics?" But he said public employees have no choice.
"Anytime your paycheck is signed by a politician, I've got bad news for you - you're in politics and you have to deal with voters," he said.
Showcasing NCPSO-CWA
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling attended part of the conference and said she was "very pleased" with the presentations and the fact that NCPSO is making a name for itself and CWA through the conference.
"I thought it was just marvelous," she said. "I think the more things we do that truly help the police officers we represent, the more active they'll be. For non-members, it's an excellent way to show them what we have to offer."
CWA Vice President Brooks Sunkett, head of the Public, Health Care and Education Workers sector, also attended and was equally impressed.
"For both unions and police officers, the public perception of what we do is not always accurate," he said. "Particularly as public workers, the public pays our salaries and our job is to help protect them. Given the very nature of our jobs, it's important to learn how best to ensure the community understands our issues."
The scene: A news conference at police headquarters the next day, where reporters are rapidly firing questions at a spokesperson.
Reporter: "What's your department's policy on a high-speed pursuit and was it followed to a T?"
Official: "It's too early in the process to respond to the comment."
Reporter: "You don't know what your own policy is?"
Official: "At this time we believe our officers were in full compliance with our pursuit policy."
It wasn't a real news conference, but it wasn't a bad imitation. Through role-playing, police officers attending a seminar put on by the National Coalition of Public Safety Officers-CWA were learning what kinds of questions to expect from reporters and how to respond if they're in the hot seat.
About 60 officers from around the country took part in the two-day seminar in Orlando in June. Most are already NCPSO members, but not all. For them it was a chance not only to learn skills they can use as either officers or union leaders, it was an opportunity to learn what CWA's growing police sector has to offer.
"What we're trying to do is provide law enforcement labor leaders new ways to look at various professional issues," NCPSO Director John Burpo said, noting seminars the union sponsored the past two years on police, media and community conflict. This year's conference was more nuts-and-bolts media relations with presentations that got extremely high marks on participants' evaluation forms.
"They were, to a person, absolutely supportive of the program," Burpo said. "They thought it was exceptionally helpful in dealing with the news media. And they felt that the role-playing was an excellent way for them to take what we were teaching them and turn it into real-life experiences."
The training applied to union work as well as police work. Sometimes the spokesperson at the mock news conferences - they staged four of them and took turns asking and answering questions - was a union leader instead of a police official.
Breaking into the news conference about the deadly pursuit, a union spokesperson said, "I'd like to step in on behalf of the union representing the police officer and just state that this is an extremely tragic event for all parties involved, including the officers. They're grieving, too, and I think we need to give them some time with their families."
"So these cops killed somebody and you're going to pay them to stay at home now?" a "reporter" fired back.
"Well there's a process going on," the union leader said without losing his cool. "We're doing a full and thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding this tragic event."
Power of the Press
Speakers included two experienced media consultants with police backgrounds, a veteran police reporter from The Newspaper Guild-CWA and a police labor leader. Collectively, they offered lots of tips and a few tricks for softening the blow when there's bad news to report or grabbing the spotlight when there's good news or a cause to promote.
But they all made one thing very clear: "You can never, ever, ever, ever lie to the press," said consultant Jim Spearing of Florida, a mantra he and others repeated.
"If you lie to the media, you're lying to the public. You're lying to the people who pay your salary," said Cissy Taylor of the Union Leader in Manchester, N.H., where she's an active member of TNG-CWA Local 31167.
When sources are caught in a lie, speakers said they lose all credibility with the media, hurting not just the individual's relationship with the press, but the union's and police agency's as well.
Almost as bad is the ubiquitous "no comment." "If you say 'no comment' it sounds like you have something to hide," Taylor said. "It's just as easy to say, 'I don't know.'"
And all that stuffy police jargon - such as "perpetrator" or "ascertained" - save it for official reports. When talking to the press, "Try to say it like you're telling your
grandmother what happened," Taylor said.
The presentations, lively and often humorous, taught participants how to define their message and how to present it. One common issue police and other public sector unions often find themselves fighting for in their communities is higher pay.
"Want a pay raise? Talk about safety," consultant Michael Shannon said. He told his audience to keep the message simple and repetitive - "because you can't assume everyone is listening" - and make it appeal to a wide range of community members. "A good message is like an umbrella," he said. "It allows a lot of people to stand under it."
Whether it's a salary campaign or community backlash after an officer-involved shooting, Shannon said union members may complain to their leaders about "why we're taking this flack, why are we dealing with politics?" But he said public employees have no choice.
"Anytime your paycheck is signed by a politician, I've got bad news for you - you're in politics and you have to deal with voters," he said.
Showcasing NCPSO-CWA
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Easterling attended part of the conference and said she was "very pleased" with the presentations and the fact that NCPSO is making a name for itself and CWA through the conference.
"I thought it was just marvelous," she said. "I think the more things we do that truly help the police officers we represent, the more active they'll be. For non-members, it's an excellent way to show them what we have to offer."
CWA Vice President Brooks Sunkett, head of the Public, Health Care and Education Workers sector, also attended and was equally impressed.
"For both unions and police officers, the public perception of what we do is not always accurate," he said. "Particularly as public workers, the public pays our salaries and our job is to help protect them. Given the very nature of our jobs, it's important to learn how best to ensure the community understands our issues."