Course Overview

Course Description

From interpersonal communication with colleagues and citizens to formal written reports to working with the media, this course studies all of the different ways law enforcement leaders need to communicate to be successful. The course introduces and develops a series of communication skills essential for someone leading a modern law enforcement department.

Course Highlights:

  • This course features a unit on social media best practices including using the various channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Next Door, etc.), dealing with comments, creating content that informs and engages the community, etc.
  • Another key project includes playing the role of the Public Information Officer (PIO). Students will create press releases, prepare a superior for a press conference, and practice transparency without compromising ongoing investigations.
  • The course is taught by faculty members who have hands-on experience interacting with regional and national media and representing their agencies on social media.

Student Comments:

“I think every aspect of the course was great. Each module challenged me to read and learn and apply that particular module’s knowledge in a practical way in the assignment. The discussion boards, as always, allowed me to learn from each student in the class through reading and interaction.”
-Summer ’22 Student

“I have always valued communication and have excelled at it, but this course really helped me understand the importance of social media and keeping the public informed. Before taking this course, I believed in just doing the job the right way and if the public got upset at something then that was their problem. I also have a personal diversion to social media and therefore believed departments were being kind of corny by having social media accounts. This course really opened my eyes and showed me how valuable well-run social media account is for a department and how vital it is to keep the public informed.”
-Summer ’22 Student

“The course is professional and was set up by people who know the profession. The program consists of multiple experts and deep perspectives. If I had utilized this program ten years ago, I would have benefited immensely, and avoided many pitfalls.”
-Summer ’22 Student

“The ability to play audio and/or video presentations in the car while commuting to and from work made time management more effective. Thank you for providing the video and audio options for module presentations.”
-Summer ’22 Student

“Every aspect of this course can be related to any career, there is something to take away from this for anyone.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“The content of this course was relevant and useful. I have experience in this area and this course provided me with new ideas and topics I will use.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“The entire course was helpful in contributing to my current career. The most prominent aspect was how to control conflict with all individuals I come in contact with such as supervisors, peers, suspects, etc.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“Communication is absolutely one of, if not the most important aspect of law enforcement, whether it’s the police officer on the street interacting with civilians or an administrator communicating with coworkers, other agencies, the community, etc. The concepts here were very relevant in today’s world and going forward.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“This class forced me to learn about areas I had avoided because I was unfamiliar with them.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“Every aspect of this course can be related to any career there is something to take away from this for anyone.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“Learning how to communicate with others whether in law enforcement or in my personal life is something that will help me in all facets of my life.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“The module 6 assignment had us look at our own agency’s social media outreach. I brought back a lot of lessons learned to our executive team and shared some of that insight. I learned through this process that our website lacked a “now hiring” hyperlink or any mention that we were hiring. We’ve been constantly hiring for a number of years and our executive team was unaware of this oversight!”
-Spring ’19 Student

“This class reinforced the belief that our profession needs to invest in the budget and structure for branding, social media and emotional intelligence.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“The real-life encounters of police in the public were very practical. The videos of the officers in different encounters were very practical in applying course concepts.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“The section on social media required me to learn my agencies policy, how we post, what we post, and more about the social media team we have. It provided a lot of insight into an area I was unfamiliar with.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“I like the exercises where I look into my own organization for case examples. I really enjoyed
module 7 where we could choose a topic that was not covered in the course.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“The writing assignments made me take a deeper look into my department’s responses to incidents.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“I am really glad there was a strong focus on social media and internet interactions as these are becoming the norm and can make a huge difference in every aspect of law enforcement. I learned a lot about it that I will take back to my office.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“Every topic in the course is currently discussion topics in my department. The course allowed me to provide an educated perspective to our department discussion.”
-Spring ’19 Student

“Being exposed to so many police leaders from around the country is something I haven’t experienced since the FBINA.”
-Spring ’19 Student

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