preview

The Importance Of Community Relations And Media Relations In The Police Agency

Satisfactory Essays

In the 1970’s community relations and press relations were a product and in some agencies it in the 1960’s. These relations were the first step in the evolution of the Client-Oriented service. Most police administrators would implement community relations programs to enhance the department image. It was a way to get the public to like them and build a better relationship (Cronkhite, 2013).

This created a new position within the law enforcement agencies and someone had to become that face for that law enforcement agency. This position required working with the television station, radio personnel, and doing the press release. There will be a conflict with media and any law enforcement agency (Cronkhite, 2013). A good example is working a homicide crime scene; you don’t want to put too much information out there for the public to know. Because the suspect or suspects always trying to see what you have in the investigation. Now, on the flip side of that, you have to have the public involvement to get a witness or witnesses to come forward.

The community relation positions were always trying to make their law enforcement agency the best in the United States. So in the early stage, they would hire public relations companies to create a community relation program (Cronkhite, 2013). This is where your crime prevention officers would go into the community and educate citizens on how the law enforcement agencies operate. These positions would be for those officers with great people

Get Access