When it comes to public relations, many police departments stick to press releases and news conferences where they might show off drugs they’ve confiscated or ask the public’s help in tracking down a suspect. In Richmond, that’s only the beginning. Their top PR person has attracted the attention of people worldwide - using social media to spread the good news about cops.
Ask a police officer about communications, and they’ll probably think about the radio room, but for Dionne Waugh, who handles communications for the Richmond police department, it’s so much more. A former newspaper reporter, she took the job six years ago.
“When I got here, I met all these neat people and heard all these neat stories and I had no outlet.”
So she created a blog and turned to Facebook, posting a regular item called Today’s Good News.
“It’s short, it’s sweet, it’s positive and it’s about Richmond Police - y’know an arrest or a compliment that someone received. There was an individual that tried to rob a store and he tried to leave and kept pushing and pushing the door and couldn’t figure out that he had to pull it, so I used one of the famous Far Side cartoons and just wrote it up that way.”
She also uses Twitter and Instagram -- posting photos of officers with their animals.
“I see a lot of negative associated with when officers unfortunately have to shoot an animal for example, and I thought, we have so many detectives here who are very animal friendly, from rescuing different types of animals such as mini-donkeys to a detective to who volunteers her time at the shelter to one who raises chickens, and I also asked them how does having these animals make you a better police officer, and their explanations were different and interesting.”
One detective has adopted five deaf dogs. Today, thanks to Waugh, he’s a worldwide hero.
“It was popular for about two weeks, and then it got picked up by a dog blog in England, and within two weeks we had 15-hundred new fans from around the world. The post itself had been viewed by more than two million people, had 20,000 Likes, Shares and Comments - it was just amazing, and one of my favorite comments was just someone who said, ‘I guess not all police are jerks’- exactly what I was going for - something that basic.”
Then there are videos created by a colleague - a kind of reality TV for those who wonder about police work in Richmond.
“He’ll go and follow them around for a little while. They see some sad things, some funny things, but it’s a realistic snap shot of what a Richmond Police Officer goes through on the street.”
In addition to educating the public and improving the department’s image, she says her online services have boosted morale for officers who don’t often hear words of thanks for their sometimes difficult and dangerous work. This fall, Waugh also won praise. At 34, she was named one of Richmond’s top 40 people under 40 by Style Weekly.
