V.I.P.E.R.

Beat Intro
Voiceover
00.10	This is the Beat - a podcast series that keeps you in the know about the latest 
community policing topics facing our nation.

Circle of Respect Interview
Jeremy
00.15	Hello.  I'm Jeremy Writt and on behalf of the Cops Office, I'm here with Chief 
Dan Alexander of the Boca Raton police department.  Welcome, Chief.

Chief Alexander
00.25	Thank you for having me.

Jeremy
00.26 	Let's go ahead and get started talking about the VIPER program.  What exactly is 
the viper program and how did you come up with the concept?

Chief Alexander
00.32	Well, we're really looking to establish a coherent and unified communications 
strategy.  Particularly a strategy that worked for Boca Raton - and VIPER was it 
for us.  It really hit on the different areas that we thought were important as it 
relates to our community policing strategy.

	So VIPER stands for: visibility, intelligence, partnerships, education and 
resources.  And the key thing about that is that each one of those elements is 
important to our constituents.  So visibility is important in the sense that people 
want a very visible police department, but beyond that we looked to develop a 
marketing strategy that was consistent - so our signs look the same, everything is 
branded consistently the same way in terms of literature - even through to the 
website.

	Intelligence is important just from the standpoint that we're all striving to be 
intelligence-led police departments.  There's a ton of information out there to 
include the typical things we get out of reports, but also video and license plate 
recognition.  So we're looking to do a good job of bringing all that together, 
analyzing it well and being smart in the way we approach our policing.

	Partnerships are the core of community policing.  It's important to us on a 
number of different levels and so that's at the heart of the VIPER program.  
Education is key.  And again, it's more of a two-way communication pattern 
with us and the residents, but it's important for us to keep people informed of 
what's going on out there and to encourage them to take steps to protect 
themselves.  And then resources is essentially what we're all about - the things 
that we have available to us to police our community.  And we do a lot in terms 
of outreach to let people know that we are a full-service police department and 
we're using their resources efficiently.  So VIPER in a nutshell, really 
communicates to people what we're about as a police department.
Jeremy
02.33	As you said, partnership is a core element of community policing.  Is there a 
specific type of organization you're targeting when you're looking for partnerships 
for the VIPER program?

Chief Alexander
02.44	I think that those constituencies are broad.  And the beauty of the program is that 
we're able to reach out to a much wider audience out there.  And it's not 
specifically just residents.  It could be organizations.  We've connected with 
people out there that we didn't know about until we were out there in the 
different media.  And, even in terms of residents - providing them different 
vehicles in order to communicate with us and to stay informed and aware of 
what's going on out there.  So there really isn't a specific audience.  We really 
look at everyone as a constituent.

Jeremy
03.22	And what's been the reaction to the program from the law enforcement side, even 
business and the community?

Chief Alexander
03.29	Yeah, it's been very positive from the beginning.  We had a task force 
established early on, as we looked at this communication strategy, that involved 
elements from business, social organizations and residents.  Even in the middle of 
the strategy, we put together focus groups to look at some of what we were 
doing and to provide feedback on not only overall strategy, but how we were 
approaching it - signs, brochures and that type of thing.  So the feedback's been 
great!  I think it's just natural that folks would want to be involved with the 
department and how the department communicates.  But it's really, really 
positive for us on a number of different levels. 

Jeremy
04.12	If you could, share with us one of the success stories that you've had since 
beginning the program.

Chief Alexander
04.18	Well, we've had a number of different successes on various levels.  We've had 
specific feedback on videos - let's say that we posted online.  We had one case 
in particular where a television was stolen from a business.  We put that video 
online and then someone picked up on it later on and called us with a tip and we 
were able to make an arrest in that case - and similar experiences with a robbery 
that occurred within the last year or so.  So we get a lot of feedback that's case 
specific, but I think more importantly is the connection that you make through a 
broad and all-inclusive communication strategy.  You know, connecting with the 
community is what it's all about, so I really value the connections we've made on 
a broad scale, but also on an individual basis.  I've actually met people and 
connected with people in the community through our presence in social media, 
and through the strategy, that I would not have connected with otherwise.

Jeremy
05.25	How exactly are you using social media to get your message out and increase the 
visibility of your police department?

Chief Alexander
05.33	I think the beauty of the social media right now is there's so many different ways 
for us to connect and communicate.  We are involved in Twitter and Facebook.  
We post on YouTube and have that available.  Aside from that, too, we provide 
specific points of information through text messages - we do Offender Alerts for 
sex offenders, we do a Crime Alerts that are specific to a menu a resident can 
choose from to get specific information back on their neighborhood.  And we do 
interactive mapping so folks can come to our site if they don't want to be 
bothered by text messages and email, to look at specific areas and for specific 
times for crimes that occurred in that area.  We'll do email that's specific to major 
cases or issues that are going on, that people can subscribe to email in general and 
we'll do a newsletter from time to time.  So we've tried to have a presence in just 
about all the different venues out there.

Jeremy
06.40	Obviously you guys are using a lot of different tools, including, that fall under the 
umbrella of the VIPER program.  But if I'm a member of another agency and I 
see how successful your program is, how would you counsel me to go ahead and 
get started using these same tools in my community?

Chief Alexander
06.59	Well I think the first thing to remember is that the tools aren't an end to 
themselves - the goal is to make that connection.  And I think most police 
departments understand the communities and you know, who has influence in 
those communities and who they're really connected with.

 So I think the first thing to do is to identify those people that can provide 
feedback on what you're doing, how you're doing it and how you're 
communicating it.  So I recommend focus groups.  Everyone pretty much knows 
what type of media is out there, but first to engage community to find out what 
their needs and desires are - instead of just jumping into social media and then 
working backwards, so yeah, that's key.

The other thing is there's a number of different resources out there now for social 
media.  IECP has put together a real good guide on their site as to model policies 
and approaches and you know, what is this and what is that.  So reach out to 
those agencies that have done it and provide some feedback. 

You know, I think we've done a good job, but we've learned a lot too.  And 
looking back, we would've done some things different - particularly on the 
community engagement part of the program.

Jeremy
08.16	I think you guys have done a great job using some innovative ways to interact with 
your community.  If you could, talk to me about one of those ways - the Holiday 
Shopping and Safety campaign.

Chief Alexander
08.29	Sure.  You know obviously as our society has evolved, and as portable electronic 
devices have evolved - whether it be iPhones, Droids, GPS units, laptops, you 
name it - the thieves have targeted these items and they're very easy to steal and 
they're very portable.  So we recognized as the holiday season approached, that 
we needed to try to raise awareness.  So folks who were paying attention to not 
only themselves and what's going on, but also their belongings.  So we started a 
Watch Your Bag Boca campaign - very simple in terms of message, but we 
pushed it out in a number of different venues.  We had a movie screen ad that we 
put out there.  We actually did bus tails - an advertisement on bus tails.  We did 
flyers on tabletops and we had a number - we just flooded the market with the 
message.  And we also did some street level stuff in terms of handing out crime 
prevention warnings and that type of thing to try to keep people aware of what's 
going on around them.  There's nothing worse than a holiday season and making 
a substantial purchase for a loved one and then have it stolen from you in a 
moment.  So that was one way - including the social media in terms of pushing 
the information out that we identified a need and addressed.

Jeremy
10.03	Well Chief, I think you're doing a great job with the program and a great job of 
branding.  We definitely appreciate you taking the time to speak with us today 
about the VIPER program and all the different, innovative ways you are using 
social media to increase your community policing efforts.

Chief Alexander
10.19	Thanks for having me on - I appreciate it.

Beat Exit
Voiceover: 	The Beat was brought to you by the United States Department of Justice Cops 
Office.  The Cops Office helps to keep our nation's communities safe by giving 
grants to law enforcement agencies, developing community policing publications, 
developing partnerships and solving problems.

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Cops Office Transcript   11-04-10

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