Press Release

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Just an idea that popped up last night while the wife and I were discussing the WGR pamphlets. (wow.... they are good)

Let's get some ideas on how we can get the local news media (papers) to print the training bulletins for their respective PD's. ie. from the Olympian...

OLYMPIA POLICE DEPARTMENT ISSUES TRAINING BULLETIN TO AVOID LEGAL ACTION.

then the full textWITHOUT reference to any officers or their conduct.

There is nothing stated that is not factual, and in reality, the training given officers is to keep them "legal" and out of trouble.

What do you think?

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I like the idea but instead why not put a public forum together and reach out to the actual Police Departments by asking them to come and participate as a voice for safety? They always seem to try and tell us it is due to a safety concern when they try to detain us! As well it would give us a chance to try and bridge the gap of this"Us vs them" sentiment that seems very prevalent on both sides right now. I think if we can find a way to work with local law enforcement officersin a co-operative manner they may turn out to be some our strongest supporters. We have seen, that when we use a calm nonthreatening and educational manner thatsome of them seem to respond in a long term O.C. friendly manner. Thats just my thought.

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I should have been a little more explicit...

The main thought was to get the PUBLIC aware that the local PD knows the legality of OC.

Just an easy way to get the word out if you will.

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Ah I see!! Like I said I really like the idea and hope it goes well. As well you might ask for some time as a "concerned member of the voting public" and ask to speak with the Deputy Chief. In Louisiana and Florida they are the one who are responsible for passing such training information about public affairs to the uniformed officers. Good luck! I look forward to hearing more about how this!!

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Trigger, I think your definitely on to something. I wish there was a training bulletin available in Spokane. Our system over here is being reworked by the new chief, and I have yet to contact the SPD about getting a training bulletin available to make sure officers do understand the laws. And here is why....Last week on Saturday, at my girlfriends work they were doing this "Tip-a-cop" charity benefit. (Basically they are your waiters and their tips go to a local charity) My GF asked one of the officers about the legality of OC and he said he didn't think it was legal, but to ask another officer who had been in the department longer. She did, and he confirmed it was legal.

Now, hopefully the second officer and the first had a conversation about it. I don't know.
But certainly a training bulletin would help lower the number of officers who are uncertain about there knowledge on this law.

But to get back on point, I think more importantly, what press releases or news articles will accomplish is inform more of the PUBLIC, since there are many departments now who are up to speed on the laws, you guys over there can move more towards public awareness of the laws, while in Spokane here I think we need to focus more towards confirming that LEO's know and respect the Spokane citizens right to OC. While I have had no incidents with LE, I do know there is a good number of LEO's here who are unaware that OC is legal.

But you are right. Press releases would be great. I have considered sending a pamphlet to the papers here also, just to let them know about this community of people in the area. We have one small weekly paper that everyone reads, and always touches on topics that the Spokesman-Review avoids.

Anyhow, if you do write a letter with regards to this, please post it or PM it to me. I would be interested to read how it plays out for you, and will definitly consider doing the same. While I couldn't approach a press release the same way, (TB related) I do still think trying to involve the press is an important part of our democracy. It only takes one good photo or article or journalist to change the way we see the world. We need to try to keep it that way by working with/pushing the press to represent the people, the issues and do it from all angles.

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Additionally, I know there is a specific guy who runs the "regional" section of my local paper. I would think that would be the best person to contact initially. Maybe sending an email or two or three or four to an individual at the local paper, asking "who would be the best person to speak with about an article on this issue?" could get your request bumped around the office a few times. It happened to an email I sent to the SPD a while ago. From inbox to inbox to inbox until the right person got it, but several had to read it first. This could raise awareness of the issue interoffice, and maybe somebody would love to pick up on it!! At least you could get it moved around a bit. Spokane's paper also has a pretty active blogging section with lots of folks who post comments, and I have seen open carry discussed on there before. I found it too late to comment, but it was there nonetheless. So that might be something as well, which might lead into an article about OC. The one I found was a discussion about Student carrying, which led to CC, which led to OC, etc etc etc.
Start looking for chances to drop the info everywhere you can. One of the guys who was actively partaking in that specific discussion was an editor for the paper. That would have been a great source for me, had I been able to join the conversation. Who would have though?

Also, in Spokane, there is 1 woman who does all the press releases for the Spokane Police Department. I would contact her about it for sure if I was at the same part of the process as you. If you have that person where you live, use them to help. They are public relations for a reason. Let's take advantage of the fact that police departments have these tools (no pun intended):lol: in place.

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surfj9009 wrote:

But to get back on point, I think more importantly, what press releases or news articles will accomplish is inform more of the PUBLIC, since there are many departments now who are up to speed on the laws, you guys over there can move more towards public awareness of the laws, while in Spokane here I think we need to focus more towards confirming that LEO's know and respect the Spokane citizens right to OC. While I have had no incidents with LE, I do know there is a good number of LEO's here who are unaware that OC is legal.

Click to expand...

Don't think we're out of the clear just yet over here... it was less than a month ago that I had my encounter with Seattle PD that ended well, but only because the Sergeant was already there to correct the patrol officer that flat out told me it was illegal to OC: http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/forum55/9593.html

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just_a_car wrote:

surfj9009 wrote:

But to get back on point, I think more importantly, what press releases or news articles will accomplish is inform more of the PUBLIC, since there are many departments now who are up to speed on the laws, you guys over there can move more towards public awareness of the laws, while in Spokane here I think we need to focus more towards confirming that LEO's know and respect the Spokane citizens right to OC. While I have had no incidents with LE, I do know there is a good number of LEO's here who are unaware that OC is legal.

Click to expand...

Don't think we're out of the clear just yet over here... it was less than a month ago that I had my encounter with Seattle PD that ended well, but only because the Sergeant was already there to correct the patrol officer that flat out told me it was illegal to OC: http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/forum55/9593.html

Click to expand...

Your right. I remember. I was just saying that Spokane is a bit further back than some of you guys over there. I need a working training bulletin over here before I can contact local papers about the kind of press release Trigger Dr. was talking about.

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Something like this right, but more for newspapers?

http://www.washingtonceasefire.net/content/view/13/32/

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I was thinking more along the lines of actually printing the training bulletin word for word as written by the PD.

I do not know if one can legally do that without permission from the PD,or if the Media would either.

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Trigger Dr wrote:

Just an idea that popped up last night while the wife and I were discussing the WGR pamphlets. (wow.... they are good)

Click to expand...

I did a little reading on media and how to write a press release. To boil it down, you have to make the media (print, TV, Radio) person want to take an interest in what you have. There needs to be an angle or a hook that makes your press release stand out from all of the rest that they get hammered with (and everyone is important to the writer, but the recipient could care less).

I found this site to have a lot of info, even if they are trying to sell you something.

I digress; but what got me thinking about this was your comment about Boerner's in Gorst on the Business that ban guns thread. I don't have my mind fully wrapped around this yet but somehow posing the angle or the hook for the reporter as some law enforcement (officers and dispatchers) as well as the employee/private cititzen making the report are potentially endangering the public because of their unfamiliarity with the status of OC in WA. Just floating the idea. I would rather see something get traction than thrown in the trash.

The other thing I was thinking was using some recent examples of serious press coverage. I think that the VCLD and Concealed Campus Carry folks have got a really good handle on this.