Strategic Communications for Police Executives

11/20/22 • 29 min

Today we will be discussing strategic communications for police executives. The police continue to wrestle with significant challenges in their effort to serve their communities effectively. Increases in violent crime, loss of public confidence, and understaffing because of the inability to fill vacant positions are among them. External and internal communications are also enormous challenges for the police. They work in a fast-paced 24/7 world that requires police executives to ensure communication is strategic, timely, and accurate.
We are fortunate to have Dr. Julie Hill with us today to share her extensive experience in working on communications strategy in local government and policing. Julie has more than three decades of experience helping organizations think strategically about their communication activities and providing support to develop and execute communication plans. She has held executive-level positions overseeing the communication and public affairs operations for cities and law enforcement agencies in Charlotte, NC, and Virginia Beach, VA. She successfully guided communication responses to a range of manmade and natural disasters as the lead communication strategist, spokesperson, and senior advisor to elected and appointed officials.

I had the pleasure of working with and learning from Julie in my nine years as police chief in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Since then, we worked together on several projects, including a book on strategic communication practices for police executives, a soon-to-be-published guide on branding, and a guide on officer safety and wellness campaigns.

Previous Episode

Making the Transition from Policing to Private Security

We will be discussing law enforcement leaders making a career transition to corporate security. Typically, a career in law enforcement is 20 to 30 years depending on the retirement program. A young man or woman that begins their career in their early 20s reach retirement eligibility in their early 50s if not before. In addition, many police leaders find themselves looking to make a career change before the traditional end of a first career.

Many turn to the private sector to seek positions in corporate security, safety, and resiliency, a seemingly natural transition.
We have two great resources with us today to talk about the transition from policing to private security.
The first is Cathy Lanier, Senior Vice President of Security for the National Football League. She has served in that capacity since September 2016 when she retired from the Washington DC

Metropolitan Police Department in where she served as Chief for nine years – one of the highest profile and most challenging police chief positions in the country. She started her career in 1990 with DC Metro and quickly through the ranks. She served in all areas of the MPD including the Commander of the Office of Homeland Security and Counterterrorism which was established after the 9/11 attacks. She holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in management from Johns Hopkins University. Also, a Master of Arts in national security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
Second is our co-host, Brian Stephens. In addition to his work at Florida State University he is the Senior Managing Director of Security Risk Advisory at Teneo, a Global CEO advisory firm. He served as Bank of America’s Chief Security Officer where he led a team of over 450 security professionals and 5000 private contractors. He began his career with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and moved to the Bank of America in July 2001 to establish a strategic planning function for security. After 9/11 he led the development of the Bank’s Enhanced Security Program in which advance security standards, technology and procedures were implemented. His work in the ensuing years resulted in his appointment as the Chief Security Officer.

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Understanding Stress and Burnout in Police Chiefs

Today we will be talking about stress and burnout among police chiefs. Serving as a police chief has always been a demanding and stressful job. The past several years has been even more challenging as chiefs have dealt with significant declines in staffing, higher levels of mistrust in the community, spikes in homicides, a pandemic and widespread protests directed at the police themselves. Chiefs from the largest cities in the US turnover in less than five years, and in many cases are just exhausted from the relentless demands of the job.

We are fortunate to have Dr. Kandi Wiens with us today to help us better understand stress and burnout in police executives. She is the co-director of the Penn Master’s in Medical Education program, co-director of the Health Professions Education certificate program, and co-academic director of the Penn Chief Learning Officer executive doctoral program. Dr. Wiens is an executive coach, national speaker, and organizational change consultant. Her coaching practice is deeply grounded in emotional intelligence, burnout, and resiliency research and methods.

Kandi is also a member of the Major Cities Chiefs Association Police Executive Leadership Institute faculty. In addition to her classroom work, she provides individual coaching to each member of the class on a 360-degree assessment. She has also been engaged with research on stress and burnout among police executives which she uses to provide advice and guidance on stress management.