PR Research
In my class for PR research, we were given a client which was the Oneida Police Department, and were tasked with researching the public perception of them. After, we were tasked with coming up with solutions for the department on how to improve community relationships. Below is a summary of my work in the class.
The Oneida Police Department consists of a force of twenty-eight people that provide resources and protect the Oneida community with a population of around 10,300 people. Their mission statement establishes on their website that they have a responsibility to maintain order, improve the quality of life for residents, and promote a community partnership. The mission statement specifically states, “The department recognizes the importance of treating each person fairly and impartially and to treat each person with respect”. The partnership mentioned in the statement, like any, needs trust and confidence in each other to work. Establishing mutual respect between the public and the department could help further the Oneida Police in their efforts to maintain order. The Oneida Police has a goal of helping reduce rural violent crime within the context of their Department of Justice grant. They hope to take a holistic approach to crime through Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), with a focus on four specific hotspots. CPTED is a community-based approach and requires the overall help and support of the community. The Oneida Police Department needs to hear directly from the community and requires an understanding of the community’s needs for CPTED to work. For the police department to be successful in this, they require an understanding of the general perception of the community about the police department and its work.
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Reliable Relations PR is a student-run agency that is hoping to help the Oneida Police Department strengthen its relationship and perception with the citizens of Oneida. Reliable Relations PR believes that this can be done through a deeper open line of communication which builds trust for both the police officers and the citizens. This can help reduce crime, but in order to be certain Reliable Relations had to go to the heart of the issue, the citizens of Oneida. They are going to do this by distributing a survey through various Facebook groups in order to get the true unfiltered opinions of the community. The survey will include demographic questions, multiple choice questions regarding their general view of the department and open-ended questions trying to pinpoint specific issues of the community. The open-ended questions were “What do you see as the greatest problem with your local police department,” “What is your greatest safety concern for your community,” and “Do you feel there are communication barriers between the public and police department if so, what are they.” These questions are the ones that are expected to give the most insight into the opinions of the Oneida police department because they are given the space to share experiences.
After sending out the survey, Reliable Relations received 50 responses that aided in creating connections between certain types of people and their beliefs. Throughout the three-week period that the survey was open, they collected responses from multiple different groups and types of people. The majorities of each demographic are as follows, the age range of 35 - 44, caucasian and female. This makes sense because the main distribution of the survey was through a Facebook mom group. The participants of this survey have primarily lived there for 10 or more years, which adds credibility to the answers because they have had multiple experiences and lots of time to create strong opinions or connections with the officers. Even though many people reported that they rarely, if ever, reach out to the police, just residing in the town of Oneida and seeing how the officers handle certain situations is enough to create a strong opinion about how the police force operates for the success of the community. The clear worry for the safety of the community is drug use and the lack of control that officers have over the drug problem. As for the concerns about how the department operates, these answers were much more conflicting. One person said, “They do nothing to stop actual crime, and they waste their time on stupid stuff that doesn’t actually matter.” There were also complaints about abuse of power, which is a common problem for police departments across America. Reliable Relations found that many of these problems make sense as many of the respondents are mothers, and their main priority is the safety of their families. Many participants in the survey felt that the police force tries hard to protect the town, and the citizens trust them to keep their loved ones safe but still see room for improvement.
Do you think your community has a good relationship with the police department?
To what extent do you feel your police department develops relationships with its community members?
As for recommendations to help the improvement of the relationship between the department and the community, Reliable Relations recommends making transparency their utmost priority. Whether that be through social media outreach and sharing updated policing plans according to the CPTED method or holding town hall styled meetings more frequently. The social media portion of this would allow them to target a younger audience that may be more opposed to higher levels of policing. Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook might be the most effective way to reach groups of people such as Millennials or Gen Z. As for the town hall meetings, where the entire community would be invited to join the police department could gather and present their plan for the next few months, and respond to questions as to how they chose to respond to controversial situations. They could also share these plans and publish them in the local newspaper to reach older demographics who may not be on social media or able to attend these meetings but still want to be involved in the community. If the Oneida Police Department were to put these initiatives in place, then the community would understand how the department operates more and create relationships built on trust.
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