Understanding and Managing Your Next Crisis: A Communications Playbook for Law Enforcement
By Thom Fladung, Managing Partner, Hennes Communications, and Terry R. Derden, Chief Legal Advisor, Ada County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho
One of the worst phone calls for any sheriff or chief is learning they have an officer down or that an officer took someone’s life. Most law enforcement executives have a solid plan for the immediate aftermath of an officer-involved shooting, but the bigger worry is the fear of the unknown as the situation plays out beyond the first 24 or 48 hours.
What happens when the agency is sued? What happens if public protests erupt over the incident? What happens when social media explodes or traditional media report on the incident repeatedly?
Having a plan for the first 24 hours is great. Having a plan, including a communications strategy, and the tools and tactics to execute that strategy is better. Understanding how the lengthy lawsuit process works means executives won’t do more harm than good as they navigate the crisis.
Crisis Communications and Telling the Story
When officers have a story to tell, it may be incomplete. All the answers to the many questions people will have may not immediately be at hand. Investigations will have to be conducted and results or conclusions may take months. But there aren’t months to begin telling the story.
For all communications, particularly with media outlets, follow the crisis communications fundamentals. At Hennes Communications, advisors apply the “damage control” playbook’s five simple concepts:
- Tell the truth. The truth will come out. And if the department wasn’t telling it, there may be new and potentially more serious problems.
- Tell it first—if the agency doesn’t, someone else will. To have any level of control of the story, the police executive must tell it. While “no comment” may be tempting, saying so risks the equivalent of a guilty plea in the court of public opinion.
- Tell as much of the story as possible. Sometimes, for very legitimate reasons, there may be important details that people want to know but can’t be shared. Privacy issues will come into play. Some information may be part of the confidential investigative process. And some, the agency simply won’t know in the early stages. An important step is telling people why some pieces of information can’t be shared. Another important caveat: Do not tell anything that isn’t known to be true.
- Tell it fast. Information in the age of digital communications and social media moves at a blindingly fast pace.
- Tell it to the people who matter most. Agency employees, local elected officials, community partners, and others will be waiting to hear from the police leaders. Many may be ready to support their agency and officers, but they can’t do so in an information vacuum.
The following are some other important considerations, particularly in dealing effectively with the media.
Schedule regular media briefings. Media briefings are crucial, especially in the days immediately following the incident when interest will be at its height—as will the tendency for misinformation and rumors to circulate. Scheduling the briefings will allow executives or public information officers to field questions in an organized manner and share information more widely.
Monitor social media. Facebook and Twitter, along with other social media channels, can serve as an important community sounding board, providing insight into what people are saying, as well as surfacing rumors or misinformation. This would also be a good chance to remind employees of any policies or guidelines around their use of social media.
Speak consistently and with one voice. The crush of demand for information may require agencies to have more than one spokesperson or different spokespeople on different days. It is important to make sure that the established talking points around each issue are used consistently.
Managing the Lawsuit Alongside the Crisis
When a crisis happens, lawsuits often follow, carrying the high risk of affecting the lives and careers of officers while posing a financial burden or embarrassment for the agency. First, all communication decisions must now take the lawsuit into account. Legal strategy and communications strategy must go hand in hand, but learning of a lawsuit filing does not mean immediately changing tactics or going silent. Doing so can unintentionally kill the goodwill that has been built with the communication strategy or, worse, attract new criticism that affects the jury pool and the public. Instead, this new piece of the puzzle should be incorporated into the communication plan.
In most states, the first step is a notice in some form, often called a notice of tort claim, which identifies who is suing and why. Most tort claim notices require filing within a certain number of days to preserve a person’s claim. The notices are often filed before the plaintiff’s attorney has even considered the merits of the case. Many times, the notice never results in a lawsuit as the plaintiff’s attorney realizes there is no substantial legal claim. Thus, receiving a notice of tort claim shouldn’t cause panic or a sudden change in the agency’s communication plan. Instead, remember that often the best defense is a good offense. Preparing with a legal counsel for a possible lawsuit by preserving all documents, videos, interviews, etc., in a risk management file could help the lawyer review the matter and advise the department on its level of liability and potential risk.
If an official complaint and demand for trial is received, legal counsel will assist in planning how to respond to the allegations. Lawsuits are an intentionally slow and deliberate process as lawyers engage in discovery and depositions to gather facts. Using this information, agency lawyers will likely prepare a motion to dismiss. If that is denied and appeals are exhausted, it is time to talk settlement or whether the case should go to trial.
When it is a crisis that attracts public attention, the media and interested parties will be following the legal steps by checking court websites, talking to plaintiffs and their lawyers, and seeking comments from the agency executives or personnel. The authors’ advice is to comment only on significant developments in the case or to correct misinformation or clarify an important fact. Often, clients err by completing their communication plan without taking the lawsuit into account and then, waiting as the media inevitably responds to the public filing—or is alerted to the suit by the plaintiff’s attorney—and seeks comments from an unprepared defendant. Incorporating the lawsuit into the overall communication strategy will help assuage the fear that agency leaders are risking a legal mistake.
Ultimately, the goal must be to remain a trusted source of information about important and sensitive matters that people care about. People are remembered for how they handled the biggest crisis of their careers. Chiefs must ask themselves how do they want to be remembered?
Reprinted from Police Chief magazine, Vol. 89, No.11, pages 16-17, 2022. Copyright held by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Inc., 44 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 200, Alexandria, VA 22314. Further reproduction without express permission from IACP is strictly prohibited.