Before a large event takes place in your jurisdiction, you make a plan right?
Well, according to Cpt. Mike Parker of the LA County Sheriff’s Department, that same kind of planning is also necessary when a department crafts its image and relays it to the public. He says it’s something that gets ignored in countless agencies across the country.
“The biggest mistake I see in police agencies’ websites is I can’t tell who the target market is,” he said. “In fact, it looks like it’s ourselves.”
Parker says that members of the public visit the websites of PDs to see content that is of interest to them. They want to see terms they understand, not police terminology such as “Field Operations Region III.” Your PD should market its content with that fact in mind.
Mike Alderson of Open Eye Communications posted the following video from the SMILE Conference last month. Think about your own department as you watch.
Is your department doing these things? If changes can be made, forward it around to others in your agency.
