Internship!

The situation:

Actually, no situation this time. In lieu of a story I want to just talk about how excited I am to start my new internship. Tomorrow will be the first opportunity for me to knock some hours off of the 200 hour requirement that Cal Poly Pomona puts on all graduating communication majors. I will be doing work for a new TV show that airs on the OC Channel called OC Crime Catchers.

OC Crime Catchers is an awesome ‘cold case’ style crime show that focuses only on crimes that took place in Orange County. I’ll be doing a lot PR/publicity for them so that their show can get off on the right foot and also learn how to do it properly from professionals. In fact, tomorrow will my first day doing work with them. I’ll be observing and doing a little photographing while they shoot some of the 3rd episode. It’s all VERY exciting. Finally, I get to put my learned skills to work and really do something for real.

For all who are interested, the show is also free to watch online if you missed it on TV.

You can find them here: OC Crime Catchers

Also, I want to take the time to thank my awesome supervisor at my current job for helping me make the connections to get the internship! Thanks Kathleen Kelton!

In the future, in addition to critiquing stories I’ll post updates on what’s going on with my internship.

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Abuse Among New Orleans Police (Bad PR)

The Situation:

Reported by CNN, a federal investigation found that officers at the New Orleans Police Department had been engaged in much wrongdoing and misconduct that violates the Constitution and federal law. The police were found to have used excessive force, made unconstitutional stops and searches and illegally profiled based on race, ethnicity and sexual orientation.

“Many of the New Orleans officers carry out their jobs well, unfortunately, our conclusions reveal that many New Orleans police officers have failed to live up to what we rightfully expect from our law enforcement people,” said U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole.

The report also explains that there were other things that happened in the past that showed that officers from the department engaged in illegal activity. Including a failed cover-up of a shooting of 2 individuals after Hurricane Katrina came to New Orleans.

“They also found that officers did not know the law regarding legal stops, searches and arrests. The system at the police department favored quantity of arrests over quality,” said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.

“Investigators also found regular harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals,” Perez said.

The PR Angle:

What a horrible situation for the New Orleans Police Department. Citizens finding out that the police were engaged in so much illegal activity is horrible for the department’s image and also the city’s overall image.

It will take a while for people to trust the police in that city again. There are though, some things that the city can do to help remedy the situation.

1. High-ranking officials must make a great public apology
2. Find out, through investigation, who did what and when and then have their position with the police department terminated without pay and without any retirement compensation.
3. Since it was found that most of the officers didn’t know the laws regarding a lot of common things that police deal with on a daily basis, mandatory classes must be imposed on the officers and they must test in the top percentile to pass the class.
4. Officers must also attend lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and race tolerance classes and/or meetings. This is because even though the people who committed the atrocities would be terminated, there could be others that have negative feelings towards these groups but never did anything
5. Every six months the progress of the department must be investigated and reported on
6. All of these things must be done publicly so that the citizens of New Orleans know that steps are being taken to make things better

The New Orleans Police Department has a lot of work to do.

Original CNN Article

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