OTTAWA POLICE SERVICES BOARD COMMISSION DE SERVICES POLICIERS D’OTTAWA
	Working together for a safer community La sécurité de notre communauté, un travail d’équipe	REPORT RAPPORT

DATE                              17 April 2012

TO/DEST.                        Chair and Members, Ottawa Police Services Board

FROM/EXP.                    Policy & Governance Committee

SUBJECT/OBJET           BOARD COMMUNICATIONS PLAN:  STATUS REPORT

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

That the Ottawa Police Services Board receive this report for information.

BACKGROUND

In February 2011 the Police Services Board retained Derek Johnston of Face Value Communications, to develop a Communications Plan for the Board.  The Board’s interest in developing a more robust and proactive communications plan was the result of a desire to achieve several objectives such as:  raising the level of public awareness and understanding about the Board and its role; building trust and confidence in the Board and the Ottawa Police Service; and improving its level of engagement with the community, City Councillors and other partners.

Mr. Johnston submitted a Communications Plan to the Board in June 2011.  The Board received the Plan at that time, and delegated authority to the Policy and Governance Committee to work with the Executive Director to: 

a. Implement the recommendations that are most likely to generate maximum results and that can be undertaken with existing financial and human resources;

b. Determine whether there are other components that should be implemented but that require additional resources;

c. Review the Board’s communications efforts in one year’s time. 

In addition to these directions, during the process of developing the Plan the Board recognized that before proceeding with the consultant’s recommendations, it ought to agree on what it wants to accomplish and then put a communications strategy in place to support those goals.  It was consequently agreed that the Board would develop a strategic plan and then the Policy & Governance Committee would revisit the Communications Plan prepared by Mr. Johnston. 

The Board worked on developing a strategic plan throughout the fall of 2011 and adopted its first Strategic Plan in January 2012.  As previously agreed to, the Policy & Governance (P&G) Committee then revisited the Communications Plan with a view to achieving the goals and objectives identified in the Strategic Plan.  The results of the Committee’s review are contained in the status report attached at Annex A.  The report contains all the original tools and tactics recommended by Mr. Johnston, plus a column indicating for each tool and tactic the actions that have been taken to date, or the Committee’s comments / recommendations if no action has yet been taken. 

DISCUSSION

Many of the recommendations contained in the Communications Plan were implemented either immediately following receipt of the consultant’s report or throughout the fall of 2011.  These are indicated in Annex A.  

There are a number of recommendations that the P&G Committee recommends be revisited in 2013, either for strategic reasons or due to a lack of financial and human resources.  In particular, the Committee recommends that the Board revisit in a year’s time some components of Phase 4 of the Plan, which is media focused, and the components of Phase 5 dealing with the use of social media.  In part, this proposal is due to the fact that the Ottawa Police Service is currently in the process of developing a comprehensive and well-supported plan for the use of social media, and the Committee believes it makes sense to wait for the completion and implementation of the OPS plan.  This will allow the Board to ensure that any usage of social media it decides to implement complements and aligns with that of the OPS.  The actions recommended for delayed consideration include:

Ø Collaborating with the OPS on the development of a joint social media strategy.

Ø Leveraging social media platforms (eg. Facebook), Flickr and YouTube to profile the work of the Board.

Ø Creating a Twitter account and making it the predominant communications channel to the media.

Ø Following up with key reporters by telephone after Board meeting agendas have been issued to highlight potential story ideas and offer clarification.

Ø Consulting with prominent local media about potential topics for public interest meetings. 

Ø Proactively pitching newsworthy ideas to key reports. 

Ø Profiling Board members via local, community-based media outlets.

CONSULTATION

During the development of the Communications Plan, the consultant spoke with members of the media, community representatives, board members and executive directors from some of the other police services boards. 

Former Chief White and members of the Police Service’s Corporate Communications and Community Development Unit actively participated in the Committee’s review of the Communications Plan. 

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

There are no financial implications associated with this report.

CONCLUSION

Last June the Policy & Governance Committee was delegated responsibility to review the tools or tactics contained in the Communication Plan to determine which ones could or should be auctioned, either immediately or at a future time.  This document and the chart attached as Annex A contains the Committee’s status report and recommendations.  

The Ottawa Police Services Board has placed an emphasis on improving community outreach, engagement and communications since 2008 when it initiated its Community Engagement Strategy.  It has introduced some good communications tools since that time, which have been further enhanced with the implementation of many of the recommendations contained in the new Communications Plan.  It is recommended that the remaining tools and tactics in the Plan be revisited in 2013. 

____________________________________________

Submitted by the Policy & Governance Committee:

Carl Nicholson, Chair

Adriana Doyle

            Jim Durrell

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