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As our world becomes smaller by the minute,
intense scrutiny by the news media on police and law enforcement
seems to increase by the second. Police departments world-wide have recognized the need for
professional counsel and training in media and public relations.
Whether you’re in the
Americas, Europe, Asia, or the
Middle East, the ability to interact effectively with the
news media during a crisis
is critical for all law enforcement professionals. To gain that skill, a
professional trainer is required who’s been on the frontlines and
who knows that the same old American law enforcement model may not
work everywhere. That trainer is
Chris
Ryan.
Ryan, founder of Ryan & Associates Public
Relations of Phoenix, Arizona, offers a unique approach to law
enforcement public relations and crisis response training. Rather than
flying in the night before a seminar, armed with a highly-structured
agenda and word-for-word handouts, Ryan takes a much more organic
approach to training. This is particularly true as he works outside
the
U.S.
He believes it is impossible to teach law
enforcement personnel how to interact with the public without having a
personal knowledge of the culture in which they work. He immerses
himself in the local customs and hot-button issues before ever taking
the stage. Ryan finds this approach much more realistic than reading a
few articles and forming an opinion about how that country’s police
force should operate. That singular perspective has served him well
while training law enforcement agencies in such diverse cultures as
Israel
,
Croatia
and the
United Arab Emirates
.
In addition, Ryan distinguishes himself with his
ability to get to the heart of what police officers truly need. He has
an uncanny instinct for blowing past the ‘public face’ presented
to visiting trainers and discovering the real issues facing those on
the front lines of law enforcement in that country. This approach
requires time and personal transparency, but Chris has found it to be
crucial in creating exactly the training content needed.
By way of illustration, here’s an excerpt from
a letter received after a month-long training engagement with the
Royal Police Force of Antigua & Barbuda:
“Even though our original focus was police
media relations, your perception of what was needed and adjustment to
the program has taken our members so much farther down the road. I’m
sure you are aware that your sessions went beyond the media / public
relations work. More importantly, you have been able in such a short
time not to light a fire beneath the members, but you have inspired
their own fire to burn within them.”
Chris is able to draw that kind of response from
his clients not only because of his background in law enforcement and
public relations, but because his instincts lead him time and again to
issues beneath the surface that must be resolved. His
five-day International Media Relations for Law Enforcement course is
different every time he delivers it, because police work differs in
every country, and even from city to city. He believes that without
identifying and openly discussing the topics that impact how police
officers do their jobs, those issues will taint the way those officers
relate to the media and the people they serve.
Ryan’s mission to equip law enforcement
officers with the skills to relate successfully to the media,
particularly in a crisis, evolved after the events of September 11,
2001 in the
United States
. He had already built a successful public relations firm,
representing a wide variety of clients, but the events of 9-1-1
solidified for him the need to give police officers the ability to
speak publicly and interact productively with the media.
His goal now is to give those tools to law
enforcement agencies worldwide. By incorporating flexibility,
knowledge of the local culture, and his exceptional gift for
discovering the truth about the issues those agencies face, he’s
well on the way to accomplishing that goal.
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©
2001-2010 Chris Ryan Seminars
