PAD 3874 - Community Relations Theory and Practice

College of Public Safety Administration

Credit(s): 3
Contact Hours: 47
Effective Term Spring 2023 (615)

Requisites

Admission to Public Safety Administration (Bachelor of Applied Science) (PSA-BAS) or
Admission to Educational Studies and Community Leadership (Bachelor of Science) (EDST-BS) or
Admission to Paralegal Studies (Bachelor of Applied Science) (LEGAL-BAS)

Course Description

This course will expose the student to community relations theory and practice within a broad range of public safety organizations. Students will understand why positive community perception of public safety is critical to funding and operational effectiveness. Each student will gain the insight and skills necessary to be effective in the community relations function of public safety administration.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

  1. The student will explain the role of public safety in American society throughout history by:
    1. analyzing American society’s public safety expectations from a historical perspective.
    2. examining public relations successes and failures in American public safety.
  2. The student will develop strategies for improving relations with the community by:
    1. analyzing how case studies can be used to understand community relations.
    2. developing strategies to enhance community relations.
    3. analyzing how to build community partnerships and alliances.
    4. identifying the steps used by agency representatives to manage crisis events and situations.
    5. analyzing the ethical and legal issues of public relations.
  3. The student will identify the role of community “stakeholders” and analyze communication issues within the public safety field by:
    1. identifying the role of stakeholders in community relations.
    2. explaining how categorization is used to identify stakeholders and community issues.
    3. explaining how moral panic can affect the relationship among stakeholders and the stakeholder’s perspectives.
    4. explaining how communication can affect stakeholders in managing critical incidents.
    5. developing a strategy to effectively deal with stakeholders' community conflicts and complaints.
  4. The student will apply the skills involved in dealing with members of the news media by:
    1. developing a strategic plan of action for communicating with the media.
    2. listing effective interview skills for gathering information.
    3. evaluating a news conference using a rubric of criteria for an effective news conference.
    4. researching current crisis situation trends and making recommendations for dealing with crisis communications.

Criteria Performance Standard

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will, with a minimum of 70% accuracy, demonstrate mastery of each of the above stated objectives through classroom measures developed by individual course instructors.

History of Changes

(Submitted as 3153, SCNS approved as 3874). 3 Year Review 2008 C&I Approval: 09/28/2004, BOT Approval: 10/19/2004, Effective Term: Spring 2005 (345).
C&I Approval: 11/20/2015, BOT Approval: 04/18/2023, Effective Term: Spring 2023 (615)

Related Programs

  1. Public Safety Administration (PSA-BAS) (655) (Active)