photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Village of Ridgewood Council awarded a professional services contract for communications for the Police Department to Julie Parker Communications, LLC, 618 Center Point Way, Gaithersburg, MD.
Julie Parker Communications is a boutique firm built on experience and customer service. Our areas of expertise include crisis communications strategies, media placement, media coaching for executives, Public Information Officer (PIO) training, social media strategies, internal communications and reputation management. julieparkercommunications.com
Send the bill to Catherine Brienza.
Huh?
Is this a joke or what?
What next, a professional spokesperson for the sanitation workers?
Insanity, pure insanity.
I never heard this being discussed during a public meeting of the council. Who approved this?
Isn’t that a function of the police chief?
“Boutique firm?” What the fuck does that mean?
This is a ridiculous waste of taxpayers money. The Police Chief is supposed to do this. This is what the Police Chief is supposed to be, the public-facing voice of the Police. If it’s something that the Police Chief can’t handle, and it has to be done by a communication specialist, then what the public will be getting is clever spin.
This is very interesting, so the police don’t have to answer to anyone ,I love it. This individual will speak for the police so they don’t put themselves in danger or say the wrong thing or get sued. I think we need representation like this across the board.
there is a silly PR campaign against the RPD and the mayor , you hire a PR person to respond
This is poor strategy. Just as public sentiment was turning, a decision was to spend resources on a mouth piece . Timing could not be worse to show how any organization can be its own worst enemy. I support my police department because I believe that the good men and women who protect us have our best interests and safety as their first priority. But to outsource “messaging” to a communication specialists implies the need for direct discourse to be professionally cultured and then communicated. Assuming the adage that you get what you pay for holds true, I would like to know what are the expectations as a result of this addition to staff? And in the end, please don’t tell us that other towns have a communications officer and therefore we should do same.
PR people are hired when a leader can’t speak for themselves. I’ve heard that this chief seems to have little support from her officers. Didn’t know if it was true but this seems to fall in line with that
Some of us don’t understand this position.
Cat got your tongue Chief?
Makes you wonder if some bad news is coming.
Trained and licensed to carry a gun, but can’t speak on her own. You just couldn’t make this shit up, no matter how hard you tried.
Not even in our state.
Previous poster nailed it. Bad news is coming.
I’ve reviewed every village council agenda for the past six months and see this nowhere as a topic of discussion. What is all the secrecy about?
I guess it’s time to end a woman’s club. Sorry
She should’ve never taken a knee. Sorry.
She should’ve stayed neutral.
Sorry.
She has her time and she can retire and move on to the FBI, CIA,
Right. Not sorry
She should not take this personally because the village doesn’t like department heads in charge for a long period of time. It’s the new norm. Sorry.
Talking about hitting the nail on the head.
So very true.
Take a Demotion like others have done in the past.
Who needs the bullshit. Sometimes it’s just not worth it.
Lol this great .
It’s amazing what goes on in the Village of Ridgewood. Who’s running this town that we live in.
Ok
1—- Who the hell came up with this and why.
2——Who approve this and why.
3—— Who voted for this, or against it, And why.
4—— this not only sounds very sneaky it looks very sneaky, the top officials need to explain on this one.
Maybe if they explain and they have a good reason for this then just maybe it may be a great idea. We just don’t know because again we are kept in the dark. This is why so many of us do not trust anyone from Village Hall. Because sneaky business like this comes out. Don’t worry we will get to the bottom of this. Like we said this may be a great thing, or just maybe Something real dirty. Someone needs to explain immediately. Especially when the mayor is from a family of police and fire. I’m sure she knows something start talking. If not we will just go to channel 12 news.
I read this as good news. It suggests that the department accepts that it is going to have to take some action in the near future to keep recent protests from escalating and that any arrests they will make will be heavily criticized. Former Mayor Rudi Giuliani has advised mayors to employee the “broken window” strategy to keep the peace. “You arrest the first person that breaks the law. Then you arrest the second, then the third – you usually don’t have to go beyond three.” Perhaps the department has made this commitment and is preparing for the potential fall out.
Shouldn’t need to spend $10,000 to respond to the little dummies.
I wonder if the $10K professional spokesperson will be posting on The Ridgewood Blog anonymously?
Someone told us a few years ago that there are big problems in that department. That’s why officers get their time and they retire .
That’s why Years ago they used to have a buyout. It works.
Obviously there’s more going on than we know.
But on the other hand, at least we have a spokesman that will inform us.
Well one side of the story. Remember if this individual is being paid by the village while she works for the Village. Now that if police officers are paying her on the side that she’s working for the police officers. Well you get the drift.
“A few years ago there were big problems in that department. Officers get their time and they retire.” Did anyone ever put two and two together to see why officers were retiring? The newspapers at that time were filled with notices that the pension rules were going to be changed as of a certain date. Any officer not retiring by that date would forfeit a fairly substantial part of their pension. Does that sound like “it creates a big problem in that department?”? And “a big problem” in most of the departments in the State as officers, who were not thinking of retiring, were forced to make a rapid decision to retire. This left departments throughout the state scrambling to find replacements. Many good officers throughout the state decided what they were doing was important, and didn’t want to leave their departments short staffed, even if it made a big difference in their pension, and stayed on their respective jobs.
There’s more to that then be inside. Many offices We talk too Tell us that they’re not that happy. They can’t stand the job anymore. Way too much bullshit.