The YouTube Shooting Crisis: How Mountain View Police Department quickly regained control of the narrative that was going viral against their agency.
You can also listen to this episode on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and watch it on YouTube.
Captain Chris Hsiung and Katie Nelson, of Mountain View Police Department, join The Invincible Brand Podcast to discuss how they quickly overcame an escalating viral crisis in a way that increased the trust their community and the general public have in their brand.
About this episode
In April 2018, shortly after the shooting that took place at YouTube’s headquarters by 38-year-old Nasim Najafi Aghdam in San Bruno, California, the media learned from Aghdam’s father that she had been confronted by Mountain View Police Department officers prior to the shooting taking place.
Before MVPD had time to make this connection themselves and gather the necessary information, news of this fact quickly went viral with the media, local communities, and the general public demanding answers and speculating on what the answers to those unanswered questions might be.
In this episode of The Invincible Brand Podcast, Melissa Agnes sits down with Captain Chris Hsiung of MVPD and Katie Nelson, Social Media and Public Relations Coordinator for MVPD, to discuss the behind the scenes of what happened, how it happened, and the crisis ready strategies that MVPD quickly put into place in order to regain control of the narrative of the incident and mitigate the risk of losing trust and credibility with their community and the general public.
Learning of a serious issue or crisis once it has already gone viral against your brand is a business risk that applies to any type of organization in this day and age, and the tips, strategies, and insights that Captain Hsiung and Katie share in this episode are relevant to all businesses whether you’re a brand of one, a mega corporation, or whether you’re in the public or private sectors.
This episode explores:
- How a Crisis Ready organizational mindset prepared MVPD for this moment before it happened
- The Ultimate FOMO moment when Captain Hsiung was “off the grid” on a cruise for the initial 18hrs of the event
- Behind the scenes decisions and discussions
- The strategy of communication: how MVPD rolled out the video footage of the event – and the importance of providing context to what viewers would see in the footage
Links discussed in this episode
- The first response statement published by MVPD before they could release the video footage of the incident
- The official response published by MVPD with the video of the incident
- The previous podcast I recorded with MVPD, as mentioned in the above discussion. It’s another great listen! Doing Crisis Communications Right with the Mountain View Police Department
Follow and connect with MVPD on social:
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
Excellent Podcast.
Very interesting view on how to regain the initiative.
I am surprised that they got over a week after the incident before full briefing of all the information , even allowing for the excellent holding statement. Shows the goodwill that had been built up before.
Good stuff..
Excellent observation, Rob – and yes, you’re correct. MVPD has worked extremely hard and proactively for years to build up the goodwill and trust within their community. This has benefited everyone in times of issue and crisis management. They’re a beautiful example of how and what to do right. I use them as an example in my book, which goes into more detail if you’re interested. I also have another podcast with them from a few years back… which I’ve just added the link to in the show notes above (thanks for the prompt!). They’re a wonderful example to learn from and model after!
Thanks for tuning it and taking the time to comment here!
Melissa
@Rob: Thanks for the comment and yes, it was a hard week to wait and virtually “sit on our hands” with information that we knew would provide a clearer picture of the situation. This was especially hard when there were some in the media who were making comments along the lines of “MVPD should have known and could have prevented this…” That said, integrity of any criminal investigation always take precedence and since we were working in support of another agency, it was a very easy decision to wait (especially knowing that we had the confidence and trust from our community and stakeholders). Glad you enjoyed the podcast. We had a blast too!
Great case study. The “framework” that Katie refers to at 8:43, She says that this is a was something developed by Captain Hsuing and that has proved effective in the past and then described how detailed info. was released to all channels. So it seems their framework/process, includes a commitment to a LEVEL of transparency as well as the MEANS. Is my observation correct and are there other elements of their framework they can share from a process level? Thank you!
Hi Nicola,
You are correct. When a crisis hits, get ugly early. This means that as an agency, if you have built your reputation on one that advocates for transparency, you must be the first in line to showcase that, even in the toughest of circumstances. This is something that has to be inherent in the culture of an organization from the top down.
The process very much involves a multi-faceted approach. Call it a fact-finding mission. We work with all units involved and cull together as clear a picture as we can of the situation. Then, we evaluate the emotional impact of the incident. We ask ourselves: who will this affect? Why does this impact them? What questions will there be and how can we answer them to the best of our ability? With that information, we create a letter that answers as much as we can legally release as well as one that speaks to our community on a crucial level — a human one. We step away from speaking in “cop jargon” and look to have our response be one of both accountability and accessibility. This goal of this process not only is to show your community that you hear their concerns, but that you are listening to them. While the initial release is cleared up the chain of command, including any talking points, your public information officers or your media teams should be given full reign in terms of engagement and response once it is disseminated.
Coordination with any other agencies involved is always important, as you don’t want to step on toes (this typically is coordinated during the “fact finding” portion of your process). But overall, the process of gathering information, sharing it internally and then externally, should take no more than a day. The news won’t wait for you, and this (at least for us and other neighboring agencies) has been a great way to take control of the narrative and allow the communities you work with daily (both online and in-person) to feel they can come directly to you as the primary source for information, rather than through other, less-informed channels.
Thank you for this wonderful, thoughtful, and thorough response, Katie!