Let's go back and reflect on this whole tragic situation and what it means for emergency communication. There are four valuable lessons:
1. Environmental awareness
By this I mean the default position of public perception and the atmosphere you and your agency operate in. Clearly, there were significant racial issues not far beneath the surface. One might consider this smoke, a smoldering crisis, just waiting for the right opportunity to burst into flames. The shooting and subsequent social media rumor mongering proved to be the spark that lit the smoking mess into open flame. Too often we assume the perception environment we operate in is positive toward us and our perspective only to find that when something goes wrong we are ill-prepared for the outrage lying just below the surface. Big oil and "big food" are two current examples not related to racism and law enforcement. In both cases a change in values, in perspective on things like global business, profits, the environment and what constitutes healthy living have substantially changed the environment these companies operate in. Often it takes a seismic event to get it through heads that the world has changed and we can't operate the same way anymore.
If Ferguson officials had understood the volatile environment, likely caused by their own racial insensitivities and worse, preparation could have been made to deal much more positively and aggressively with this kind of situation.
2. Bad actors
How might they have prepared, you ask? One way is to realize that some people in their organization are likely going to prove a problem. Particularly in the world of social media where the stupid thoughts and stupid things some people say become visible and can spread instantly to those just waiting for such stupidity. Not to mention stupid behavior caught instantly on camera and broadcast within moments to the world. Not long ago I had the opportunity to speak to a gathering of police chiefs and sheriffs. I asked, given the nature of today's transparency through social media, are there officers in your department who make you nervous about their attitudes, comments and behavior. I saw a lot of heads nodding and some very uncomfortable squirming. I'm asking you that question now: Given the scrutiny imposed on Ferguson, how would your agency or department fare? Are there loose cannons, employees with anger issues, psychological issues or plain-old character problems? You are probably best off dealing with those concerns now. Clean house or you may be the one taking the fall for those few who just don't get it when it comes to what the public expects today.
3. Good guy/bad guy narrative
When news changed into competition with prime time entertainment (60 Minutes era) it adopted the tried-and-true methods of entertainment and storytelling. The basics of narrative come down to a good guy and bad guy and someone they are fighting over: the White Hats, Black Hats and Maiden in Distress. This is now how much of news is told. The Maiden is the public good in some form. The Black Hats, of course, are those putting public good at risk. The White Hats are those protecting the public good, including the media in the media's eyes. You can see this narrative play out in the Ferguson story. But life is more complicated than this. When events have to be condensed to fit a three-minute online or broadcast segment, there's no time for nuance.
There's no question through most of this who had the black hats. But those wishing to continue the black hat narrative are damaged by the few crazies who think the way to deal with this problem is to shoot police officers. The news media carries the primary responsibility in controlling the narrative, and since the Ferguson event the common story has been more and more reporting on every event in which officers (particularly white officers) shoot or threaten African-Americans. When such crimes or tragedies occur, they absolutely deserve attention. But there has been little reporting on the dangers that police officers face in doing their jobs each and every day. Dangers that have been increased, as we saw yesterday in Ferguson, by the media continuing to tell their story in an overly simplified and sometimes irresponsible manner.
There is a lesson for communicators. When you have the black hat on, everything possible must be done to change that. Credibility is lost with that hat on. We'll need to explore this topic later, but too often communicators seem unaware of unrelenting storytelling with them as the bad guy thinking things will turn around on their own. They seldom do.
4. Lack of communication
Here is the big issue. I commented earlier on the failure of the Ferguson police to communicate, engage and respond to the social media furor following the shooting and the reports on social media from eye witnesses. Some of that bears repeating now with more hindsight. A citizen living in an apartment saw part of the altercation, saw Michael Brown shot, and reported it on Twitter. In minutes the story was retweeted, repeated and began to be broadcast. Within hours millions had heard the story of the shooting in cold blood of an innocent black man who had his hands up. Later investigation made it clear this is not what happened. But there was no police presence in this growing story and conversation. There was no request to suspend judgment until facts could be established, no countering information. The police operated as if they controlled the story, calling a press conference days after the shooting. The story was out and completely beyond their control.
I don't want to suggest that it would have been completely different if the police in Ferguson, like a great many police forces today, had been on Twitter and engaged right away. But I do think it would have been substantially different. If so, think about it. There have been several police shootings, incredible property damage, millions in additional policing costs, federal investigations, resignations and much more — all of which could quite possibly have been minimized or avoided by improved communication at the outset.
If there isn't a case to be made for early communication, for engagement on social media, for continuous monitoring in this Ferguson tragedy, then I don't know what it will take.
