Law Enforcements and PR

Krystal Gibson is a homicide detective from Knoxville, Tennessee who outside work enjoys coffee and the company of her dogs and children. Gibson graduated from University of the Cumberlands and utilizes her skills from her Communications classes every day in the work force; whether it be when interviewing criminals or running patrol. She is a smooth talker and emphasized greatly the importance of PR and communication skills in her field of work.

Gibson concentrated on explaining the importance of informing media rather than keeping things “hush, hush” because that along gives the media room to fill in the blanks or what they want to make of a situation. The only thing being “hush, hush” will do is cause chaos among citizens because they will be filling in the blanks, making things worse in the long run. For lack of better words, you have to “feed the dog,” you need to give it what it wants to keep it from “barking or causing trouble.”

Public Relations is important because it helps the public to be informed and keeps them quiet and not releasing information that isn’t completely accurate. Communication among citizens, victims, even criminals, is important to keep an open relationship among law enforcements and people because that’s the only way to achieve the “ultimate justice” as Gibson called it. You have to be best friends with people you hate, you have to make friends with people you would never talk to if you had a choice. Communication in law enforcements helps to achieve the ultimate justice that citizens want.

Law enforcements have a lot of hate due to negative propaganda spread on the internet, through word-of-mouth, and even because of the misbehavior of some law enforcement officers. There’s always going to be a stereotypical way people see cops and detectives and all law enforcements. However, despite this negative view people have on law enforcements, they are the ones people are going to call when there is trouble. They are the ones who can help. My Mom always says, “One bad apple will make the whole tree look back,” and that’s how people view law enforcements, they see what they want to see, the small amount of bad cops that squeezed through training and made it. These bad apples gives the whole tree a negative reputation. Law enforcements want the same thing you do, to be treated with respect and like a human being.

Public Relations is important in maintaining a relationship with citizens as well as getting information from them. These positive relationships will help officers to know who they can count on for reliable information. You have to “feed the dog that will let you pet it,” for lack of better words again. Officers want to be able to trust people and by utilizing communication skills officers will be able to obtain information and achieve ultimate justice for victims. Releasing adequate information and keeping a fair-play relationship with the media and citizens is key to obtaining this ultimate justice and not releasing wrongful/exaggerative information to the public.