A Crisis Briefing in Response to the Shooting of A Cop Television Audio Technician at Omaha, Nebraska.
The Crisis occurred on August 19, 2014.
The Organization Used Denial Strategy in Response to the Crisis. The Strategy was Helpful as it covered the Police Department. The Communication was made by the Director of the Department.
The Crisis Communication was done on September 10, 2014.
The Image Restoration Strategy used by this briefing was mortification. Since the information was already available within the public domain, denial strategy would not have worked best as for that reason, the department should have admitted and apologized to the family of the bereaved and the general public as a whole.
Crisis Briefing: US Police Department
Introduction.
We as the United States of America Police Department, would wish to express our regrets regarding the shooting of a journalist during a robbery incidence at the Wendy’s in Omaha, Nebraska. As the Police Department, we acknowledge that human beings are not perfect, owing to the fact that police departments are run by humans too, they are also subject to errors (Evanson 32). However, we strive as much as we can to carry out ourselves with perfection in order to serve the American citizens better.
Narrative
Unfortunately, an audio technician working for Cops television was killed on September 2014 by our police officer as he was filming a robbery incident at the Wendy’s in Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America. We would like to term the incidence as death by a friendly fire, we find all the reasons to regret the misfortune. We admit that the incident was entirely a fault from our officer who was firing at the robbers. As it is usually the case, journalists strive to film such incidences. That was when the misfortune fell. We acknowledge that indeed the slain audio technician was on a noble course of recording the robbery incident for the rest of the Americans. Even though our officers managed to gun down one robber, we also regret that the journalist was caught by fire too.
Argument
Even though the misfortune befell our department, also, owing to the fact that it’s a police department in this case, we would like to put all the considerations that comes with the law enforcement agency (Larry 28). Furthermore, we would like to categorically stress on the incidence, it was purely an act of error (Mortification). There were no intentions to commit the heinous act by our officer (transition).
Once again, we would like to make it clear that we are a law enforcement agency mandated with the duty of protecting lives (Sellnow 27). When it comes to a case where life is lost, we feel more remorseful, as for that reason, we would like to relay our heartfelt condolences not only to the family of the fallen journalist but also to the family of the fallen robber (Mortification). Just the same way life is precious to anyone else, it is precious to us a department too. We fully recognize the right to life, it is a constitutional requirement for everyone (transition).
Refutation
A section of the public has accused the police department of extra judicial killings. As a department, we would like to communicate clearly that we don’t engage in extra judicial killings unless the officers have been run out of all the available options stipulated for them by the constitution.
We would like to call upon the media to engage the pubic more positively than careless reporting that can generate bitter feelings within the public domain. Contrary to the opinions that a section of the public owns in regards to the incidence, we would like to make it very clear that it was purely an act of error (Evanson 32).
Conclusion
Therefore, we would like to stress that the police department respects the right to life, as a matter of fact, we are mandated with the duty of upholding the right. Therefore, we can’t deprive any citizen of the right whatsoever.
We would like to call upon the American media to relay the position of the police department regarding the shooting to the rest of Americans.
Works Cited
Evanson, James. Leading Under Pressure. A Practical Guide To Handling Practical Crises. London: Routledge Publishers, 2014, Print.
Larry, Smith. Crisis Management And Communication: How To Gain And Maintain Control (2nd Ed). San Fransisco, CA: International Association of Business Communicators Publication, 2014, Print.
Sellnow, Ulmer. Effective Crisis Communication: Moving From Crisis To Opportunity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2015, Print.
