Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 404 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: APRIL 2016 Police Association produces TV commercials Getting the word out about the good cops do is not the media’s job – so dig deep and spend your money wisely by Cynthia Brown “We are now in an era where we have to take the responsibility to promote our own profession,” Marty Halloran, the president of the San Francisco Police Of- ficers Associaton, explains. “We cannot rely on the media or the politicians to defend us and get the real message out about what police do for their communi- ties. In times of controversy, which we are experiencing now, reporters and politi- cians will betray us if it means bigger ratings and more votes.” San Francisco cops have been coping with one high profile controversy after another and the leaders of the POA were convinced they had to take some sort of drastic action to try and turn the tide. They hired the pub- lic relations firm Paul Kinney Productions, based in Sacramento, to produce a series of videos that could be aired on network and cable televi- sion. Halloran said each spot cost between $3500 to $5000 depending on the complexity of the story and how many locations were required for the shoot. But the biggest expense came after the spots were produced. Buying time to air them on local network television stations was expensive. To date, the POA has spent between $60,000 and $75,000 per video to air them on local and cable television. The response has been overwhelmingly posi- tive. “We’ve received a lot of calls and emails and there wasn’t a negative comment among them,” Halloran con- tinued. “Even comments on Facebook were supportive and that is very unusual.” There was an- other outcome as well. Members of the San Francisco POA, who footed the bill for this extraordinary ef- fort to educate the community about the work their officers do, were thrilled with the out- come and grateful to see such positive stories about their work airing on cable and network television. Here’s just a few of the videos in the series, “San Francisco Police Officers: They Work to Make Your Day.” • Saved Baby Nash: While on routine patrol, Matt Cloud and his partner got a call for an abandoned baby. Matt held the infant and adminis- tered CPR while his partner rushed to the hospital. He carried the baby right into the emergency room. The hospital called later to say the baby would live and he had prob- ably saved its life. • Baghdad to Bay- view: This video features Officer Montgomery Singleton, who served Iraq on the dangerous streets of Bagh- dad. When he returned home and went back to his job at the San Francisco Police Dept. he requested an assignment in one of the roughest areas of the city. • And our favorite – The 24-Hour Shift. This video features the story of two cops – man and woman – who patrol the city’s notorious Tender- loin District. It turns out these two active, successful cops are partners both on the job and off. Irene and Brian Michaud are mar- ried. “We cannot rely on the media or the politicians to defend us and get the real message out about what police do for their communities.” Detective Eric Batchelder lost his leg in a motorcycle acci- dent. But he went right back to work. Today Eric is one of the Department’s most skilled investigators. Eric’s story is featured in one of the videos.