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February 07, 2008
PR at the PD
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| Image: Infant arrested after baby-shower
/ party ordinance transgression. Contrary to the subtitle for the photo above, it was taken by the E-R's Jason Halley during a 3 hour standoff with a man wanted for attempted murder (see story here). The six week old was in the Chico apartment during the standoff. Halley should get a get out of jail free card in the mail today. During the two ride-alongs I did last year I got the impression that our police force might like more recognition for the work they do. Looking at the job from a civilian perspective it appeared to be somewhat thankless with ample monotony. Wrastlin' gang-bangers could be seen as a break in the boredom, but how many of us regular folk care for that particular form of excitement? These guys don't often get called out to save a cat in a tree. When I saw the photo above several thoughts came to me. First, it was juxtaposed in my mind with the many anti-police comments made at the recent City Council party ordinance meeting. When you compare the genuine dislike and distrust for police expressed by some people at that meeting with the hands of the officer cradling the infant, it's hard to square those two views. Second, the police , who rarely get a cat in the tree moment, ought to purchase this photo and use it regularly and often in marketing material. Did I say marketing material? Yes, I did. The police, who use about 50% of our General Funds should be regularly telling their story. Not to convince the anti-party ordinance crowd that their feelings are misplaced. That will never happen. But to continually explain to the rest of us exactly what we're paying for. At least that's what I would do. Third, it reminded me of the altruism I recently experienced coming from the men and women of the police department. A project I'm working on for The Outsiders (also linked below) was recently the recipient of a generous Chico Police Officers' Association donation. In talking with that union's leader, Terry Moore, he said the CPOA has donated more than $200,000 to local projects/events supporting youth. In my opinion, unions of today are not working to ensure fair rights for their under-paid employees. They tend to thrive in government or highly regulated industries where competition is minimized. Unions are organizations of self interest. So there's a natural conflict between my self interest as a taxpayer and a union's self interest in increasing benefits for its constituency. I'm okay with that conflict. I'm less okay with politicians that pay little attention to tax payer concerns. Over the last year my opinion of local police has changed from indifferent to supportive. Some of that comes from taking the time to watch them do their job. Some of it comes from comparing their behavior to public criticism that seems over-the-top. And some of that comes from getting support from police officers for something that is important to me. I think the photo above represents an aspect of the work the local police do in our community. I think they should use that imagery to promote that perspective. |
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CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Sean Baber so fair, up in the air, working day and night, so our packages get there. See comments below for the answer. |
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Posted by Lon at February 7, 2008 06:49 AM
Comments
CIC - 4 P's of marketing
Posted by: Sean at February 7, 2008 07:51 AM
cic: the 4 p's of marketing
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-812Marketing-ManagementFall2002/CourseHome/
Another one is that Poor Products Promote Poor marketing.
Posted by: Mark Sorensen at February 7, 2008 09:18 AM
Lon,
I agree with most of your post. The police perform a mostly thankless job that most people are unwilling to do at any pay rate. You won't see me complaining about the job they do or their pay.
Regarding unions, I would venture a guess that you've never worked for a corporation with tens of thousands of employees (no the Army does not count). I used to rail against unions myself. That was before I found out how quickly a person could be transformed from a cherished employee to an undesirable cost unit by a bean counter. I've seen contracts and employee rights intentionally violated first hand. At the very least, unions are a necessary evil in my industry. I wish it weren't true, but it is.
Posted by: Sean at February 7, 2008 01:58 PM
Sean,
Most union employees benefit from their membership. I guess not all do. I've heard of some unions that have given up their junior members in return for senior member raises and job security. And others that have negotiated such wonderful benefits that the corporation they work for ends up going belly-up.
I don't begrudge you or anyone else joining a union. Actually, I think most members have little choice in the matter. But as a private industry, self-employed person, taxes hit me very hard.
Therefore when it comes to government employee pay and benefits I expect politicians to be very considerate of where the money comes from that they spend. The only reason I mentioned my opinion on unions in this post was to identify where I still have concerns.
Lon
PS: Thank you for supporting the kid's disc golf course as well.
Posted by: Lon at February 7, 2008 02:43 PM
Lon,
There is a major rift developing at the Air Lines Pilot Assoc. (ALPA) for the very reasons you pointed out. I think there may be a lesson for our council here as well. ALPA conducted a poll to get membership opinion on raising the mandatory retirement age to 65. Membership favored keeping retirement at age 60. So guess where ALPA's lobbying efforts went? That's right, raise the age to 65. Obviously the junior members are livid and talking recall.
As I've pointed out in the past there is definitely a difference between public and private sector unions. I still can't get over the fact that our council approved a union contract that they should know cannot be paid for with current funding levels. Historically, there have been instances where employees have driven companies into bankruptcy, but we've certainly learned our lessons from that in the private sector and in recent years employees in the airline and auto industry have taken huge pay cuts in order to save their companies and their jobs.
I certainly share your concerns regarding taxes.
Posted by: Sean at February 7, 2008 03:14 PM
Sean,
In addition to being eloquent you are also the CI challenge winner. Those are the 4-P's of marketing. Or as Mark S. points out, one set of the 4 P's.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at February 7, 2008 04:56 PM