Over the past couple of years public safety agencies have discovered the importance of crisis communication; meaning that communication is key in crisis situations, whether it be the use of social media or building strong rapport with the public. Understanding that viewing the public as an asset instead of a burden can greatly improve the overall response in a crisis situation and lessen the burden on public safety professionals.
Crisis Communication
Partnership with Public Understanding that the public is a vital part of crisis management is essential for first responders. There are many misconceptions involving the public and their response to crisis; one of these misconceptions is the thought that the public will panic if they are given
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It makes sense that “the public responds much more positively to spokespersons that acknowledge their concerns and demonstrate human compassion for any harm that may have occurred” (Matthew, p. 241, 2006). This is because if the public believes that said spokesperson genuinely cares they will be less reluctant to questions any orders or actions that may have to take place.
Rules when Interacting with the Media
Do not lie It is important to never lie to a reported for two reasons; one being that said reporter may come to the wrong conclusion, and second being that it may effect a person’s credibility. Although you are there for the benefit of the reporter, it is important to remember that “of there is information that you cannot share, saying so” (Department of health and human services, 2002).
Never Embarrass To a reporter, reputation is everything; therefore, embarrassing a reporter not only impacts their career but also your credibility. In the news world information spreads at an alarming rate, if rumors spread about an individual who wilfully embarrasses there reporter, that individual will be hard pressed to find another reported to talk
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For example they may broadcast that they are looking for an individual with certain characterises and emphasis for people to stay away because said individual is dangerous. This allows people to be vigilant of that person and at the same time help the police if they happen to come across said individual.
Disadvantages of Social Media
Although social media has improves our rate of communication it is important to remember that it is not flawless. One example is the age demographic, the older generation might not have twitter or Facebook therefore, will not receive an agencies emergency post. At the same time the younger generation (8-16 years) might not be interested in police agencies Facebook pages therefore, they will also not receive an agencies emergency post.
The major flaw in the relationship between social media and police agencies it that they have to establish a relationship. People have to physically like or follow a certain group on Facebook or Twitter it is not automatic. A vast majority of people do not do this, for example the population of Edmonton as of 2011 was 812,200 yet the amount of people who follow the Edmonton police service on Facebook is only 89, 555 which equates to
193-194) During this study the authors conducted surveys giving them data ranging from the different types of bad news, and the different strategies that were used. Wagoner and Waldron applied a politeness theory to this study concluding that "the nature of the face threat inherent in a bad news event should be reliably associated with the use of redressive strategies." (p. 201) The authors finish their study by stating that "no doubt leaders and followers adjust their behavior during these episodes based on their relational and communicative history and the anticipated relational consequences of the event." (p. 207)
The police and the media have been very closely related to one another for a very long time and they will always have to have a relationship with them. They are so closely related because crime itself is considered news that is valuable to the people of a community. Without the media and law enforcement working together, many people would not know what was going on and/or how to act about certain crimes if there are any within their communities. With that in mind, law enforcement must keep up with all the advancing technologies that involve any kind of media. This includes social media, print, internet, television, and cell phones as well. Keeping up with all these different media platforms, working together with the media, and staying on
In the Disaster in Franklin County simulation (Regents of the University of Minnesota [UMN], 2006), there were several key personnel in the incident command team. This concept is utilized in real disasters when the Public
Since the up-climb of social media began in 2003, law enforcement has greatly adapted to the social media network in order to better communicate with the public and to improve their protocol. Much of police work is unappreciated and unknown of. Therefore, some departments have taken it upon themselves to educate the public via social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook. This is done in order to inform the community of what their department does, and to build confidence and trust towards their agency. Around the country, law enforcement agencies see social media as both beneficial and damaging. Thus, with the awareness that social media is here to stay, law enforcement has chosen to adjust to these social changes and to use them in their benefit.
Police were more advanced in technology in 2015 than they were in 2005. Police officers now use social media websites to monitor criminal activities, especially when criminals are dumb enough to post weapons and talk about crimes they have committed. This can be useful in preventing a crime from occurring when someone gets on social media and makes a threat that they’re going to kill someone.
The various local, state, and federal emergency management systems of the United States suffered a crude awakening in the decade of the 2000s. Systems expected to hold up were put to the test and failed to prepare for disaster, mitigate the damage, and, in some instances, actually hampered responses in life-or-death situations. Worse, all failings were highlighted in an age of global communication and mass media, on display first whether a man-made incident like September 11th attacks or natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina. The decade found the complacent government failing to maintain modern emergency management practices, stimulating began a series of doctrinal upgrades and training improvements. Yet, no matter the bureaucracy, writings, or money thrown at a problem, the first responder to the incident has and will continue to influence the outcome. While the individual responder stands as the most important part of
The use of social media in law enforcement has been on the rise throughout the U.S. over the past few years. According to the LexisNexis 2014 Social Media Use in Law Enforcement report, eight out of every 10 law enforcement professionals use social media as a tool in investigations, and 25 percent use it every day. The use of social media to help obtain probable cause is widely accepted, the survey shows. Three out of four respondents, or 76 percent, said that, when they used social media as probable cause, it has never been challenged. The percentage is down from 87 percent in 2012.
Building credibility is an important task to complete when implementing a Risk Communication Program. In order to build credibility one must show effective job performances with minor incidents such as “minor incidents, such as minor floods, that cause damage and disruption of normal activities” (Lindell, Perry, & Prater, 2007). Credibility is built also by “effective performance in public hearings or in meetings with neighborhood associations and civic organizations” (Lindell, Perry, & Prater, 2007) Credibility can also come from helping the community understand, caring, and considering the outrage factors. Another piece to implementing a Risk Communication Program is to understand and use the varieties of channels to spread hazard information. Communicating with the community is the largest part to implementing an effective program. Also when implementing a Risk Communication Program, communicating with the community about which adjustments are being planned and implemented so the community is always up to date. And lastly, evaluating the program effectiveness is a big step in the right direction of implementation. Describing the adjustments to the households to everyone involved will also help with implementation. Informing people of what they can do to protect themselves and reduce damage will make the implantation easier. Setting goals and meeting goals will help in the effectiveness of the program. Seeing a rise in the number of households with “hazard insurance, family emergency plans, earthquake-prone homes with water heaters strapped to the foundations, and hurricane-prone homes with window shutters” (Lindell, Perry, & Prater, 2007), shows that the program is
Describe how the media and community could be involved during the four phases of a disaster response. Avoiding panic is listed as a primary goal and relying on leaders that behave in manners that aren’t productive or helpful to any of the citizens of lower class, elderly, or any of the vulnerable residents on how to handle the safety of their families and themselves. Top leaders need to development a plan that will get to the vulnerable residents and aid in their safety. Community and media can work together as one to inform people of the danger ahead and be able to speak to
One of the major roles of the social media in modern policing is acting as an analytical tool. Criminal investigations tend to incorporate use of social media in creating leads towards the suspects . This is mainly because most people have the tendency in updating their whereabouts on social media and even it is possible to know the character of someone by accessing their accounts.
This emergence of social media has also changed emergency management and disaster response. Emergency management as a whole is fairly new, only creating widely recognized, integrated emergency management systems beginning in the 1970s. Furthermore, at this same time people realized that the effects disasters have on the communities they strike can be mitigated by the creation of disaster plans ahead of time, proper disaster response training, and the efforts of human actions in these situations. Because social media has enabled mass amounts of instant information sharing, it allows not only locals and disaster response teams to help with the management of crises, but also many remote citizens.
Inevitably, crisis will surface bringing with it turmoil and adverse experiences. Crisis communication is an endeavor by health care professionals to provide information that enable clients and stakeholders to make the best achievable decisions during an emergency about their welfare inside a narrow time margin. Authors Flannery and Everly (2000) state, “A crisis occurs when a stressful life event overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope effectively in the face of a perceived challenge or threat” (p.119). Often, in times of disaster, the effectiveness of being a sender of communication or its receiver is affected due to elevated levels of stress related to a stressor that threatens a person’s personal security or self-integrity (Arnold & Boggs, 2011) therefore defeating the individual’s ability to perform and function normally.
CNA, a research facility, partnered with the National Emergency Management Association to provide research and information on the public’s expectations about emergency management’s use of social media. Before this research, the data about this connection was only done with case studies and unreliable accounts. CAN used a survey in this research to see how people felt about social media in connection with emergency management. The results found an positive approach. Many people in emergency management agencies, on local and national levels are very familiar with social media. It is usually the larger websites that are more widely known. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, are widely known and publicized. There are however many other social media sites that are not as widely known that are even more useful to nationwide security and communication such as crowdsourcing and Nixle and these are not as widely known (Su, Wardell, & Throkidsen, 2013). So while people in emergency management
The response to any emergency is considered to be very critical and therefore should be as efficient as possible. In the healthcare sector, responses to situations are counted by the seconds. From natural disasters to epidemics, the only chance left to respond to any of this occurrence could only be counted in seconds. That means life is either saved or lost in a matter of seconds. Putting in place certain responses to these unexpected occurrences, such as crises management communication plan, help save lives and arrest crises from aggravating. Failure to have crises management communication plan is considered by many commentators to be a crisis in itself. Accepted medical care is highly dependent on effective communication between healthcare providers and the patients; among healthcare providers and the outside world. The characteristics of crises make it necessary for prior planning and effective communication among stakeholders in the health sector (Klaene and Sanders, 2006; Ronen, 2006).
This report outlines the current crisis situation and provides a range of crisis communication strategies and methodologies that are suggested for use immediately.