Supervisors in many walks of life, especially in Public Safety and Homeland Security agencies, need to be effective in both gathering and disseminating information. That means they need to network within the community and make contacts. Public Safety and Security supervisors need to be familiar with the makeup of their community and communicate with the different segments of the community to effectively to plan for emergencies and coordinate efforts to mitigate damage when one occurs.

Many agencies of government also have a need to educate the public and control information provided to the public at any particular time. Often this involves directly working with community agencies and partnering with businesses. For example, consider the Zika Virus spread by mosquitoes. If not handled correctly the information released could create a panic which seriously harms Florida's Tourist Trade.

Our institutions walk the line between the free flow of information guaranteed by the First amendment to the US Constitution, and protecting citizens from uncontrolled leaks of information which would cause panic or harm legitimate investigations. This requires thoughtful and ethical decisionmaking.

Communicating with various stakeholders in a community to inform and educate is a regular function of almost all public agencies. The simple act of crafting a press release can cause a negative reaction or unified community action to support the agency goals and programs.

This course contains introduction to communication skills. It also teaches the student to analyze a community and consider the stakeholders in a community. This is an area of Public Relations.

Finally we will study the media, and how to control the messages that are released to the media. The message that is sent needs to be clear and agreed upon. Who speaks to the community, what they will say, and when they say it are all considerations an agency needs to consider.

While this is a short course, it requires a normal amount of study and research, so be prepared to work up to 20 hours per week on this course.

Professors Tom Baugher and Barry Puett are team teaching the course. Professor Baugher has a Juris Doctor Degree (Law) and an Masters in Business Administration. He has extensive experience working in a public agency. He will handle class discussions. Professor Puett also has a Juris Doctor Degree and has extensive experience in Law, administration, and community organizing.