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John Daley ReportingIt's been a challenging task for police managing communications and expectations during the Destiny Norton search and investigation. They've mostly kept a tight lid on information, but at times, that's a bit of a double-edged sword.
It could be a text book case in the field of "crisis communications." After hopes had been raised by a possible sighting of the five-year, they came crashing down when police announced, in a brief news conference, they'd found her dead in a nearby home.
With questions unanswered, the family's supporters unloaded on police, forcing the chief to diplomatically calm the crowd.
Mayor Rocky Anderson: "There were a lot of emotions, people were heartbroken. There was some misinformation and lack of information."
Jeannie Hill, Family Friend: "I want to apologize to Chief Burbank for causing a scene. All of our emotions were high."
Josh Ewing, a communications specialist with Salt Lake PR firm Love Communications, says such high-pressure situations can be the trickiest of all. He was the Mayor's spokesman for four years, during the Olympics and Elizabeth Smart case. He says generally officials are better off giving as much information as possible.
Josh Ewing, Former Mayoral Spokesman: "The more information that can be officially clearly from police, oftentimes the better it is, because then the expectations are realistic. And more importantly, the rumors are downplayed. I think the free-for-all we saw the other day had a lot to do with A: everybody is tired but B: they're just frustrated, they didn't have information and things caught them off guard."
The chief acknowledged as much as he offered his own apology.
Police Chief Chris Burbank: "I wish I could give out the entire information and put many, many people at ease that the police department did all they could, but more importantly that Destiny did not suffer."
Chalk it up as a learning experience for communicating in a crisis. Researchers in the field of "crisis communications" have even pinpointed the ideal length for the ideal comment in a crisis situation, which is 27 words long, about 12 seconds.
Eyewitness News conducted a statewide poll today on whether you think the police did a good job in this case -- both in the investigation and in the release of public information. The results of that poll, coming up on Eyewitness News at 10:00.
