Developing a Strategic Communication Plan

Developing a Strategic Communication Plan

CRJ 430 – Advanced Law Enforcement

Introduction

I am a member of a team assigned by the police chief in my hometown to revise the organization’s strategic communication plan. I will utilize a strategic approach that I have learned so far to develop my city’s police department’s strategic communication plan. I will outline the approach that I would use to conduct research and interpret the situational analysis for my hometown. I will determine the main goals and objectives of my proposed communication plan. I will predict the target group of my communication plan. I will propose the general communication strategies of my proposed plan. I will also develop the first four (4) main steps of my city’s police department’s strategic communication plan.

Strategic Communication Plan

While developing a strategic communications plan for a police department, there are many things to consider such as budget, infrastructure and capabilities, Bandwidth, technology, space, and availability, just to name a few. On top of all the considerations, you also must develop a concise plan that uses your resources to get you to plan to its highest level of operational performance.

In a recent assignment from this class, we read an online book titled “Strategic Communication Practices: A Toolkit for Police Executives” and focused on reading Chapter 3 “Developing Strategic Communication Plans.” The seven (7) steps required in the process of developing a strategic communication plan are: STEP 1: Research and Situation Analysis, STEP 2: Determining Goals and Objectives, STEP 3: Target Publics, STEP 4: Communication Strategies, STEP 5: Messages, STEP 6: Tactics and Implementation, STEP 7: Evaluation and Measurement

Strategic Approach and Outline

The strategic approach and outline I use would include My cities’ counsel for the budget, our utility leadership for implementation, Our police force for needs and uses of utilization, and our collocated jurisdiction’s leadership and advice for using a system that works with them and not against them. This would include federal offices as well to cover cross communications during national emergencies to prevent a lack of interoperability. Our text states, “Interoperability refers to the ability of public safety officials to communicate with each other seamlessly in real time over their wireless communications networks, either by voice or through data transmissions” . Our world is getting smaller every day, and as we grow, we need to have systems that not only grow with us but also communicate with others in our community/World.

I will outline the approach that I would use to conduct research and interpret the situational analysis for my hometown as the following from “Strategic Communication Practices: A Toolkit for Police Executives”:

STEP 1: Research and Situation Analysis

STEP 2: Determining Goals and Objectives

STEP 3: Target Publics

STEP 4: Communication Strategies

STEP 5: Messages

STEP 6: Tactics and Implementation

STEP 7: Evaluation and Measurement

Objectives, Goals, and Target Group

The objective of the proposed plan would be to follow the steps in the outline while growing the plan to fruition. All issues should be addressed and shared to the group to allow full input and implementation of solutions that benefit the whole as quickly and as efficiently as possible. The goals of the group should be oriented toward budget, timeliness, and quality. Those goals should be tough, realistic, and attainable while pushing everyone to perform their best. The target group should be threefold: First- the people in the working group; Second- the Police force(s) using the communication system; and Third- the public who deserves to have an appropriate system to assist, protect and serve them.

First Four Main Steps

The first four (4) main steps of my city’s police department’s strategic communication plan as taken from researching from “Strategic Communication Practices: A Toolkit for Police Executives”:

2.Determining Goals and Objectives- Strategic communication goals and objectives are specifically focused on supporting the department’s mission and vision while assisting in achieving its operational goals and objectives. This is accomplished by being S.M.A.R.T. Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, and Timed.

• Research and Situation Analysis- Assess the current state of the organization. This analysis provides the groundwork or foundation on which the rest of the plan—goals, objectives, strategies, messages, and tactics—is based. You see where you are and where you want to be.

3. Target Publics- For strategic planning purposes, carefully identifying and segmenting publics by distinguishing between audiences and public (or stakeholders). It is a useful way to think about the various groups with some tie to the department.

4.Communication Strategies- specific communication/public relations strategies that help

you move from specific objectives to specific recommended action. Based on good research,

a strategy is a general description of the kind and tone of action (tactics) you’ll implement to

fulfill the objective of completing the plan within the desired timelines and quality.

Conclusion

I am a member of a team assigned by the police chief in my hometown to revise the organization’s strategic communication plan. I utilized a strategic approach that I have learned so far to develop my city’s police department’s strategic communication plan. I outlined the approach that I would have used to conduct research and interpret the situational analysis for my hometown. I determined the main goals and objectives of my proposed communication plan. I predicted the target group of my communication plan. I proposed the general communication strategies of my plan. I also developed the first four (4) main steps of my city’s police department’s strategic communication plan.