Perception of Public Relations Professionals on Public Relations Strategies That Can Be Used to Rebrand the Nigeria Police Force
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to examine the perception of public relations professionals on public relations strategies that can be used to rebrand the Nigeria police force. The specific objectives of the study are:
- To examine the image of the Nigeria police in the minds of Nigeria.
- To ascertain the negative images of Nigeria police force.
- To examine the public relations strategies of rebranding the Nigeria Police Force.
- To examine the challenges of using public relations strategies in rebranding the Nigeria police force.
- To determine the benefits of rebranding the Nigeria Police Force using public relation strategies.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter is a review of related studies to the topic Perception Of Public Relations Professionals On Public Relations Strategies That Can Be Used To Rebrand The Nigeria Police Force. The chapter is organised under the following headings:
- Review of concept.
- Review of related studies.
Theoretical framework.
Review of Concepts
The Concept of Public Relations
The most acceptable definition of Public Relations is the definition by the British Institute of Public Relations (IPR) which States that „Public Relation is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish a mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics‟.
In public relations, we refer to “Publics” rather than to the general public‟ and some dictionary definitions may be misleading.
This is so because PR massages, unlike advertising, are addressed to specific groups of people or special sections of the general public (audience). These publics may be referred to as members of the local community, employees, investors, electors, donors, distributors or various kinds of consumers and users, according to the type of organisation. These groups can be subdivided into even more specialised groups e.g. a company has many grades of staff. When we consider that PR is undertaken by every organisation, commercial or non-commercial and in both public and private sectors, the identification of publics and the use of different techniques to reach them, becomes a very important aspect of campaign planning.
Public Relations is used in different ways by various individuals to educate people on the profession. It has also been compared with many management courses. This makes PR an entity of its own
Role of Public Relations
Public Relations is a management function. It is placed under the director general in government establishment or the chief executive in the private sector and the public relations officer is always a member of the board of management and takes part in decision-making.
The most important requirement for a public relations practitioner is to be aware of the political, social and economic environment in which he operates. He should equally consider the conflicts of interest which the majority of his publics suffer.
The conflicting interests are those of the family, the community, government and company. But more often than not, the average Nigerian is a victim of divided loyalty and lacks identification with the government or private employer using his services. These responsibilities vary in degree in different organisations as follows:
- The public relations man helps the management to evaluate and interpret the opinions, attitude and aspirations of the various publics and the internal and external activities of the organisation.
- To inform the populace of government policies and day to day activities.
- To manage crisis and issues.
- To organise a programme of action where the publics can express views on important new project before final decision is reached.
- Keeping management or clients informed about the public opinion, and the events and trends likely to affect their reputation.
- To plan and carry out short, medium and long term plans so as to ensure better knowledge and understanding especially through dialogue in order to create a climate of confidence required for the harmonious co-existence of the organisation with various publics with whom it interacts.
From the above, it is clear that the role of Public Relations as a management function is quite a challenging one. Therefore, in order to achieve our mission as image-makers, said one British in one of the conference, “We need to be credible to our client, our management, the authorities, the media, and the general public”.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
Data presented for analysis in this study were elicited from selected respondents [Nigeria Police, Lagos Command, the Nigerian Populace, Public relations practitioners, crime correspondents, and Lagos Command Deputy police public relations officer]. A total of 200 questionnaires, 50 for police officers and 150 for the Nigerian populace were administered and all were retrieved which implies 100% response rate. The views and opinions expressed by respondent were subjected to critical analysis. To achieve this, the retrieved questionnaires were vetted and analyzed with the aid of computer software statistical package for social science(SPSS)(version17) employing the tools of simple count and Percentages. Also, the entire null hypothesis raised were tested and rejected.
To ease the analysis, Data for the police (such as questionnaire items, pie charts and tables) were labeled A while those of the Nigerian Populace were labeled B. Furthermore, the interviews conducted were transcribed and analyzed with issues of interest extracted to support the findings of the study.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
Introduction
This chapter summarizes the findings on the perception of public relations professionals on public relations strategies that can be used to rebrand the Nigeria police force, Lagos State as case study. The chapter consists of summary of the study, conclusions, and recommendations.
Summary of the Study
In this study, our focus was on the perception of public relations professionals on public relations strategies that can be used to rebrand the Nigeria police force, Lagos State as case study. The study is was specifically focused on examining the image of the Nigeria police in the minds of Nigeria, to ascertain the negative images of Nigeria police force, to examine the public relations strategies of rebranding the Nigeria Police Force, to examine the challenges of using public relations strategies in rebranding the Nigeria police force and determining the benefits of rebranding the Nigeria Police Force using public relation strategies.
The study adopted the survey research design and randomly enrolled participants in the study. A total of 200 responses were validated from the enrolled participants where all respondent are First, Police officers in Lagos State Command and Second, Nigerian populace from age 18 and above (for survey). The third population included professionals: Public Relations Consultants, Media Personnel and the Lagos command Deputy Police Public Relations Officer(In-depth interview).
Conclusions
With respect to the analysis and the findings of this study, the following conclusions emerged;
The golden rule of effective policing is human element as reflected in the police code of conduct launched recently. PPRO must see good public relations as an on-going process, which needs persistence, being positive and continuously looking for opportunities to position the force favorably and encourage trust in the long run. To be candid, applying public relations principles to restore police image requires visible policing which involves four key elements namely: adequate funding, preparedness, addressing institutional inadequacies and a changed disposition of officers to unprofessional conducts and the Nigerian populace. This, when instituted through sustainable and strategic public relations practices will definitely endear the police to members of the public thereby reducing or erasing all together the bad image of the force.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Drawn from facts gathered, the study recommends that:
Adequate funding and correction of institutional inadequacies.
To achieve commendable success in the image laundering process of the police, government must be ready to fund forces‟ activities adequately including Public Relations and other operational activities. This way, PR efforts whether by the NPPRD or public relations consultants will be felt in the image restoration effort.
Empowerment of the citizenry to perform oversight functions on the police.
The recent dismissals of corrupt officers from the force were engineered by the video tapes recorded by members of the public and blotted by the social media. Such practice should be encouraged. This way, the populace will perform oversight function and report erring officers in addition to the existing PCRC, PPCB and the human rights section of the police. Empowering the populace to perform oversight functions must not be abused however so that the police will not again be subjected to intimidation.
Training, re-orientation and sustained disciplinary actions for erring officers.
Human beings make up the institution, as such; concerted effort should be made to invest in capacity development of police officers. This should further extend to re-orientation of police officers about professional conducts in the discharge of their duties. In addition, appropriate sanctions such as was melted on allegedly corrupt officials dismissed in August and September 2013 should be maintained and sustained. This way, the bad eggs in the force will be gradually checked or eliminated. Police officers must be trained to individually conduct themselves as good image makers of the institution.
Improved relationship with the public( Community Relations)
Efforts at maintaining police public friendly relationship must be sustained since neither of the two parties can do without each other.
Since research is cumulative, it is suggested that future researchers may attempt to study the significance of public relations in restoring confidence in the weak image of a manufacturing company.
References
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