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  • Celebrating 20 Years of Training Excellence 2004-2024

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  • Media Relations

Overview

This course is designed for in-service law enforcement personnel (patrol officers, detectives, first-line supervisors and managers) including members of established media relations teams (sworn or civilian) to provide the necessary tools to effectively relate to the news media. Students will learn how to prepare for and respond to television, radio, and newspaper interviews as well as press conferences. Strategic use of social media, planning and liability will also be covered as tenants of this course.

Seminar Highlights

  • Formulate an efficient response to media-related events while minimizing department liability and public scrutiny
  • Explain the evolution of Media Relations in law enforcement
  • Explain the anatomy of media-related events
  • Recognize potential pitfalls
  • Compare and contrast the proper responses to a media-related event
  • Develop collaboration skills to improve transparency between law enforcement and the community
  • Establish a standardized response to a high-profile event
  • Evaluate legal considerations associated to media-related events in law enforcement
  • Formulate a social media presence

Course Outline

Day One

Evolution of Media Relations in Law Enforcement

  • Perceptions
  • What does the public think a PIO does?
  • What does your Organization think a PIO does?
  • What a PIO actually does.

The Anatomy of Media Relations

  • Relationships
  • Perceptions
  • Emotional Resiliency
  • Various considerations

The Do’s and Don’ts of Media Relations

  • Basic response to inquiries
  • Professionalism
  • Political correctness
  • Stay in your lane
  • Investigative integrity
  • Accuracy
  • Tone

Diversity of an interview

  • Location
  • Radio
  • Television
  • Phone
  • Newspapers

Equipment essentials

  • Tools
  • Attire
  • Go-bag

The 5 W’s

  • WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN
  • When appropriate, WHY

Live Press Conferences

  • Logistics
  • Demeanor
  • Tone of Voice
  • Visual Aids

Day Two

Composition of Media Alerts

  • Alerts and Press Releases
  • Public Transparency
  • Short Vignettes vs Full Release
  • Why to send and when to hold off
  • How to disseminate information

Media Relations During High Profile Events

  • Basic Response
  • Verify
  • Isolate the incident
  • Establish a Media Staging Area
  • Establish scene security

Critical Incident Considerations

  • Investigative Events
  • Internal events

Officer Involved Incidents

  • Multijurisdictional Considerations
  • Use of Force
  • Officer Arrests

National Incident Response Strategies

  • Initial Response
  • Active Shooters
  • Oikos University Shooting
  • COVID-19 Epidemic

The Importance of Social Media

  • Department’s Social Media Footprint
  • Diversity
  • Authenticity
  • Transparency
  • Reliability
  • Consistency
  • Various Social Media Platforms
  • Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube
  • Recognition of National Incidents
  • Community Outreach Events, Holidays and Feel-Good Stories

Legal Considerations

  • Internal Policy and Procedures
  • Internal policy requirements
  • Internal procedures
  • Procedures mandated by City Counsel/City Attorney/County Counsel/Attorney General
  • Case Law
  • Hawaii Defense Foundation v. City and County of Honolulu
  • Recent Senate Bills and Assembly Bills
  • Senate Bill – 1421
  • Assembly Bill – 748
  • Local, State and Federal Laws/Statues
  • California Penal Code – 409.6(d)
  • Government Code – 6254(f)
  • It not often that you go to a training that you really, really want to pay attention to. Because of the high quality information and style of presentation, I knew that if I looked away I was going to miss out.

    —Quinten Graves, Oregon State Police
  • This was, by far, one of the most useful training classes I've attended since becoming an investigator.

    —Steven Aiello, Antioch Police Department
  • Instructional style is engaging and highly effective.

    —George Laing, Fire Prevention Captain, Investigator
  • Your training has made the greatest and most direct impact on my assignment of any training class that I've taken.

    —Ken Gelskey, National City Police Department
  • This training provided the useful tools necessary for assessing the veracity of a suspected child abuser, which goes a long way in helping to protect children.

    —Sunny Burgan, MSSW, LCSW, Social Work Supervisor, Santa Clara County DFCS
  • I highly recommend this training for any Probation staff who have the necessity to interview/interrogate individuals for investigation purposes.

    —R. Bret Fidler, Santa Clara County Probation Department
  • I will continue to use and pass on this information because I really believe in the instructors and their approach.

    —Kimberly Meyer, Washoe County Sheriff's Department
  • Incredible training with amazing real world instruction. I have been taking law enforcement classes for over 30 years and by far this is the best presented and most useful.

    —Det. Brian Dale, Portland Police Bureau
  • The information presented was highly relevant to my job and was presented in a manner that was organized and very easy to digest.

    —Michael McGarvey, California State Prison, San Quentin
  • This was, by far and away the best training I have received in 15 plus years of Law Enforcement. The instructors are experienced, engaging, articulate, and very entertaining. I will be recommending this training to multiple agencies.

    —Mark Paynter, Oregon DOC
  • This training by far has been the most informative and most effective I've attended. The instructors engaged the students in a manner that made me want to speak my opinion, ask questions, and participate.

    —Julio Ibarra, Merced County Sheriff’s Office
  • Your training gave me the confidence and tools to interview the suspect for over 5 hours and to bring a closure to the case.

    —Daniel Phelan, San Jose Police Department
  • Effective teaching teams! The presentation of the material was consistently interesting, and intelligent without being too intellectualized.

    —Michele Keller, Deputy Probation Officer, County of Alameda

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