At a time when police forces around Australia are increasing their media and communications budgets, and demand has never been greater for reality-style television productions focusing on policing, there is evidence of a growing trend for police public relations work within policing agencies.Dr Alyce McGovern, lecturer in Justice Studies at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies, will explore this phenomenon in her presentation, The best police force money can buy: the rise of police PR work, at the Critical Criminology Conference in Melbourne on Wednesday 8 July.
Dr McGovern says in recent times the NSW Police Force has come under fire for its prolific spending on public relations and media communications, with one estimate in 2008 that Australian policing agencies were each spending upwards of $2 million per annum in public relations.
“At the same time as police are increasing their media and communications budgets, demand has never been greater for reality-style television productions focusing on policing,” Dr McGovern said.
“It’s been reported that the NSW Police Force has earned over $1 million in exclusive deals with television networks and movie production companies for cooperation in a variety of crime-related shows.
“Coupled with this rise in police television deals, the increasing role of media relations departments within policing agencies is indicative of a growing trend within policing agencies: police public relations work.”
Dr McGovern has explored some of the ways in which the police, and their media units, have moved from simple information sharing to engaging in media management objectives, and the extent to which this has had an influence on the police image in the media and public.
“As we are well aware, the media can greatly influence community perceptions and understandings about police and policing through the representations they broadcast,” Dr McGovern said.
“While the media often come under fire for misrepresenting crime and policing in a grab for ratings, the trend towards police involvement in infotainment style programming leads me to examine the aims and role of police cooperation in making these types of shows.
“With their central role over content and editing, police are in the position of being able to manage their image in the media in ways which were not previously possible.
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