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Running head: COLLABORATIVE COMMUNICATION

Forming Partnerships

Cindy Pontes

LEPS 510

Prof. James Bishop

March 29, 2019

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COLLABORATIVE COMMUNICATION

Building and maintaining partnerships is essential for law enforcement agencies.

Without alliances with many different entities, law enforcement agencies would not be

successful in keeping their communities safe, deterring criminal activity, and solving crimes.

Partnerships do not happen without effort or hard work, which is why some leaders fail to build

strong relationships. There are three key groups that I have focused on building partnerships

with in my command.

The first group I have worked to build partnerships with are the other first responder

groups; police, sheriff, fire, and emergency medical responders. These partnerships are priceless

in emergency incidents. I have personally witnessed how good and bad partnerships can help or

hinder accomplishing our mission and goals during the Thomas Fire and the Montecito

Mudslide. I have worked hard to build personal relationships with the Chiefs, Sherriff, and

Directors of each agency (USD, 2019). These relationships have paid dividends for all of us.

Our relationships were not built overnight, and I had a lot to overcome being the

newcomer to the area. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) had a reputation of being

disengaged from the rest of the agencies, and one of my officers had arrested a firefighter for

refusing to move his fire truck at a collision scene a few years before my arrival. Also, the

Chiefs and Sheriff do not recognize the CHP commanders as equals to them, so they treated me

as a subordinate. Essentially, CHP commanders are the Chief of their commands.

It took a lot of effort on my part to build a rapport with the leaders in the allied agencies.

However, I persevered and eventually, I was able to build a rapport with the Police Chief, Fire

Chiefs, the AMR Director, and the Sheriff. When the Thomas Fire reached Santa Barbara
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County in December of 2017, all executive level first responders were thrown into the

Emergency Operations Center to work together for 14 days straight with no days off. This is

where our personal relationships were built. Our allied agencies had a lot of faulty assumptions

(Fitch, 2016) about the CHP. Once they put their assumptions aside, we were all able to connect

with each other (Fitch, 2016). These partnerships were crucial to our success during the

mudslide, where we worked side by side for 21 days straight with no days off.

The second group I have worked to build partnerships with is the media. Having a great

working relationship with the media is extremely important. When bad things happen, and they

will, having these relationships to communicate effectively will prove invaluable.

Words have power (USD, 2019), and I want to use my words to promote positive

relationships with the communities we serve and our allied agencies. With the medias help, my

words can be heard and read by our community members. I am very sincere (Fitch, 2016) in my

communication and I have received compliments on how people related very well to me after

they saw me on the news. The media trusts that I will provide the most current information, and

they believe me when I say I cannot disclose specific details.

During the Thomas Fire and the Montecito Mudslide, I interacted with the media daily

for nearly three months straight. This included live press conferences, live town hall meetings,

live phone interviews, and phone calls for statements from the print media. I provided messages

of hope and reassured the public that we had a plan, we were following the plan, and everything

would work out in the end. The partnership I established with the media was priceless and is still

vital to our success today.

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The third group I have worked to build relationships with are the communities we serve.

This has been accomplished by attending community meetings and events. We currently partner

with the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), the Montecito Traffic Advisory Board,

and the Fighting Back Criminal Justice Task Force. Our command would like to partner with

other groups. However, we are looking at the history and legitimacy of other community groups

(USD, 2019) before we commit to partnering with them.

Building strong partnerships with the communities we serve has proven to be more

challenging in our area. We serve a very diverse array of communities. They range from the

very affluent to the very poor, and from the elderly to college students. We use Twitter and

Facebook to reach some of our community members. However, nothing can replace getting out

in the community and meeting people face to face.

To better relate with our communities, we have to understand that some people may have

had bad experiences with police officers in the past (Fitch, 2016), to include agency time (USD,

2019). We have to recognize things that could be negative and be prepared for encounters that

could be difficult (USD, 2019). We all communicate from our perspectives, and we need to

remember that our words matter. As police leaders, we need to look forward to the opportunities

to interact with new people (USD, 2019).

Each of these partnerships involves building relationships with people. Actively listening

to others is vital to gaining their trust (Fitch, 2016). Creating and maintaining these partnerships

are crucial (USD, 2019). Failing to preserve these partnerships is detrimental to our Department,

our allied agencies, and the communities we serve.

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References:

Brain Fitch (2016). Law Enforcement Interpersonal Communication and Conflict Management

The IMPACT Model

Jonathan Shead (December 2017). Retrieved from: https://news.jrn.msu.edu/2017/12/local-

police-use-social-media-to-build-better-relationships-with-community/

University of San Diego (USD) (2019). Presentation 3.1: Collaborative Communication –

Forming Partnerships and Inter-Agency Communication. Retrieved from:

https://ole.sandiego.edu/ultra/courses/_56467_1/cl/outline

University of San Diego (USD) (2019). Presentation 3.2: Communication and Rapport Building

– A Career Trajectory Perspective. Retrieved from:

https://ole.sandiego.edu/ultra/courses/_56467_1/cl/outline

What-When-How (DNA). [Police Science]. Retrieved from: http://what-when-

how.com/police-science/media-relations-police/

Tony Zimmerman and Ron Kness (DNA). Retrieved from:

https://www.firescience.org/building-trust-in-law-enforcement/