Police Consolidation in the News

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Police consolidation and its coverage in the news media is an important research topic for several reasons. First, there has been a significant increase in the number of communities that have considered or implemented some type of consolidation of law enforcement services (Wilson & Grammich, 2012). Communities have considered the strengths and weaknesses of consolidation for many years, but public and political discussions of this issue have accelerated at a great rate in the past decade. As tax bases have dwindled, communities have sought to consider alternative ways to continue to provide a comparable amount of public safety services within constricted budgets. One strategy that has been adopted is to coordinate law enforcement services with other communities, or within a community, to share resources through consolidation.

Second, there is only a limited amount of scholarly work that has been published on the dimensions of police consolidation itself. There has been an increased interest in this topic more recently, but in general, this literature has historically focused on whether and how police consolidation impacts the quality and efficiency of police services (Krimmel, 1997; Lithopoulos & Rigakos, 2005; McDavid, 2002; Simper & Weyman-Jones, 2007; Southwick, 2005; Wilson & Grammich, 2012; Wilson, Weiss, & Grammich, 2012) . Much of the literature published is several decades old, written by private consultants, and few studies have been published in peer-reviewed outlets. Although there is some research on police consolidation, much of the extant research focuses on other issues besides implementation of such programs, and we were unable to identify any research studies that have examined how the issue of police consolidation has been presented in the news media.

Third, it is important to understand how important policing issues like consolidation are presented in the news media. Although how information and news is distributed to the public has changed dramatically over the past 20 years, news media continue to be a primary outlet for information about crime and justice issues (Callanan, 2012; Chermak, 1995a; Chermak & Weiss, 2006; Graber, 1980). Most of the public experiences crime vicariously, consuming images from various entertainment, news, and Internet sources. Media scholars argue that there are many social issues that impact a community, but there is limited space and time in the news to cover such issues. Thus, the choices news media make in covering certain issues help to set the policy agenda for public consumption as well as for political attention. Most citizens have limited access and opportunity to fully engage with the political decisions that impact their lives, and thus the news media serve as a buffer that determines the issues that consumers should think about. News organizations should be interested in police consolidation because it is a complex issue that might significantly impact the quality of life and the security of a community, impacting all people who live there. Members of the public have an important stake in the decision on whether to consolidate, and how the media informs the community about this important issue may determine whether the decision is supported and whether the effort to consolidate is effective.

In this article, we examine how the consolidation of law enforcement services has been presented in the news media. There are multiple ways that consolidation has occurred, but our focus is the efforts to consolidate the public safety function in a locality. We include stories of both partial consolidation, where, for example, “cross trained public safety officers work alongside separate function personnel,” but there is consolidation by administrative rank and also full consolidation of either multiple law enforcement agencies or where public safety services (police and fire) for a specific community are integrated (Wilson et al., 2012, p. 1). We explore two general themes. First, we detail what issues about consolidation have been emphasized in the news. We look at how the relationship between law enforcement and other community agencies has been portrayed, what community impacts are emphasized, and how the economic impacts of consolidation have been framed. Second, we examine the types of sources that news reporters have relied on and how they have used them in stories about consolidation. Prior research examining the representation of crime, policing, and other criminal justice issues highlights how sources are concerned about the public representation of social problems and issues, invest considerable resources to develop strategies that result in issues being presented in a positive way, and are well positioned to frame issues in a way that is consistent with their preferred understandings of them (Chermak & Weiss, 2005; Skolnick & McCoy, 1985; Surette & Richard, 1995). Consolidation is potentially a very contentious issue impacting communities in different ways, and thus multiple interest groups have a stake in the presentation of this issue in the news media. This article discusses which interests are emphasized in news stories and how these sources describe consolidation.

Literature Review

There is a very large body of research examining the presentation of crime in the media (Chermak, 1995b; Graber, 1980; Klite, Bardwell, & Salzman, 1997; Maguire, Sandage, & Weatherby, 1999; Mastro & Robinson, 2000; Scharrer, 2008; Yanich, 2005). This research has focused on several important issues. First, the research has examined how important crime is as a news topic. Research has consistently indicated over time that it is among the most frequently presented topics (Chermak, 1995b; Graber, 1980; Robinson, 2011; Scharrer, 2008; Yanich, 2005). Second, this research has examined what about crimes and which crimes are presented in the news. In general, the majority of crime coverage focuses on coverage of specific crime incidents (Chermak, 1995a; Doyle, 2006). In these stories, reporters simply describe characteristics of the incident, victim, and suspect, and discuss the status of an investigation or trial. It is commonly understood that violent crimes are significantly more newsworthy than other types of crimes (Chermak, 1995b; Davis, 1952; Ericson, Baranek, & Chan, 1991; Graber, 1980; Jerin & Fields, 1994; Scharrer, 2008; Stepp, 1998). Some research indicates that murder accounts for as much as 30% of the crimes presented in the news (Chermak, 1995b; Gilliam & Iyengar, 2000; Gruenewald, Chermak, & Pizarro, 2013), and other research indicates that a large percentage of homicides occurring in a jurisdiction are covered (Chermak & Weiss, 1998; Gruenewald, Pizarro, & Chermak, 2009; Sorenson, Manz, & Berk, 1998). Most of the crime in the media literature has focused on media outlets in large cities. The few studies that have examined the presentation of crime in smaller communities conclude that incidents are emphasized similarly, but that the focus is on the most serious (and rarest) crimes that occur in these communities (Chermak, 1995b). As fewer corporations have gained control of the media marketplace, there have been a decrease in the number of news outlets and an increase in the reliance on media wire services for news, especially in smaller communities (Robinson, 2011). General policy stories and those that discuss organizational issues or programs are significantly less likely to be presented in any news outlet (Chermak, 1995b; Chermak & Weiss, 2006; Doyle, 2006).

Images of Policing in the News

Although there is a large body of research on crime in the media, there is much less research that specifically examines issues of policing in the news media. More specifically, although consolidation may impact various types of government public service agencies, much of the focus has been on merging law enforcement agencies with other agencies, but there has been no research that has examined how this issue has been presented in the news.

The police are certainly frequently presented in the news media, but the focus is on what role they play in criminal investigations and arrests. News coverage of crime disproportionally focuses on the beginning stages of the criminal justice system, as stories generally describe the investigation or arrest (Chermak, 1995a). The coverage tends to emphasize the effectiveness of the criminal justice system. That is, a crime incident may be covered when it occurs, but there is rarely any follow-up after the initial story is presented unless the police department successfully apprehends and arrests a suspect. This type of coverage gives the impression that the police are effective (Reiner, 2002).

Coverage of policing programs and policies occurs much less frequently. For example, research by Chermak and Weiss (2006) compared the coverage of crime incidents to community policing stories. Not surprisingly, the coverage of community policing stories was rare, and only characteristics of specific community policing initiatives were emphasized. ‘'In fact, this research indicated that the total number of crime incident stories for just 2 weeks was significantly larger that the entire population of community policing stories published in a year'' (Chermak & Weiss, 2006, p. 150). The stories on community policing that were presented emphasized it as a general policing strategy (40% of all stories). Specific police programs accounted for 21% of the stories, general community programs accounted for 18% of the stories, and individual officer activities were discussed in 7% of the stories. Very rarely did news organizations provide an evaluation of community policing. In general, this research indicates that community policing was presented favorable in the news, and reporters discussed general goals and the nature of police–citizen interactions within particular programs, but the discussion lacked context. Specifically, reporters rarely discussed the history, philosophy, political implications, or the impact of community policing programs. Police officials, especially the police chief, were the most frequently cited source in community policing stories.

Although rare, reporters will cover other types of policing stories, and the tendency is to emphasize positive activities occurring within the organization. News media will cover promotional stories, where activities of specific officers are highlighted, awards and promotions are discussed, and the results of particular programs or investigations are emphasized. Similarly, news media will cover specific crime-fighting initiatives, such as drunk-driving checkpoints, police crackdown strategies, task force strategies, or the results of a specific initiative. In addition, because police organizations have “preferred access” to the media, they manage to request public assistance for specific programs, gather additional information about cases, or identify the location of suspects at large.

There are certainly exceptions to the positive portrayal of policing organizations in the news (see Chermak, McGarrell, & Gruenewald, 2006; Robinson, 2011; Weitzer & Tuch, 1999, 2005). There have been, of course, a large number of high-profile stories where police agencies or a specific officer or group of officers have committed some type of wrongdoing, and thus media coverage of policing will be negative. It is certainly not true that police organizations are able to control how the media represent policing generally and the police organization, especially when a negative incident comes to the attention of reporters. Police organizations have, however, attempted to minimize the occurrence of such types of stories and implemented strategies to respond when they occur. These strategies, and the implications for how issues like consolidation are presented in the news, are discussed in the next section.

Using Sources to Construct Crime Stories

Police organizations have invested a considerable amount of resources and effort to establish strategies to manage their relationship with the media in a way that works to their advantage (see Chermak & Weiss, 2005). Police departments have increasingly opened themselves up to media inquiries, have hired and trained full-time public information personnel (Chermak & Weiss, 2005; Skolnick & McCoy, 1985; Surette & Richard, 1995), and have structured the amount of access news personnel have to the organization (Ericson, Baranek, & Chan, 1989). Although research indicates that the police–media relationships can be tense, especially after a high-profile event critical of a police department, the prevailing view is that this relationship is symbiotic (Chermak, 1995b; Chermak & Weiss, 2005, 2006; Grabosky & Wilson, 1989; Guffey, 1992). Bureaucratic constraints on news production, such as the amount of time available to produce a story, motivate news personnel to cultivate relationships with accessible sources. For news about the beginning stages of the criminal justice process, this means a heavy reliance on law enforcement sources.

This dependence provides law enforcement sources with opportunities to promote the department or respond to a contentious issue, like police consolidation. Consolidation is an important topic for the media to cover and for communities to engage because public safety is an issue that not only consumes the majority of local budgets but also directly impacts quality of life. It is contentious because there are multiple stakeholders that might be impacted by a consolidation, and changes in service delivery will impact jobs, pay, and job security. Similarly, Coe and Rosch’s (1987) case study of police and fire services in Durham, North Carolina discussed how the department neglected to publicize its activities, which was one important factor that led to deconsolidation.

Research has examined the relationship between reporters and police officials using three methodologies. Some of this research uses observational methods to understand the police–media relationship (Chermak, 1995b; Ericson et al., 1989; Fishman, 1980; Grabosky & Wilson, 1989). There have only been a few studies that have tried to understand relevant police–media issues using survey methodologies. Chermak and Weiss’s (2005) research provides a national snapshot of the public information officer (PIO) and media activities. In another study, Surette and Richard (1995) surveyed PIOs in Florida to determine their specific attitudes, tasks, backgrounds, and training. PIOs were described as “daily trouble shooters and first contact points” between the police and the media (p. 329). An important finding concerns the involvement of PIOs in proactive image construction on policy-related stories. These researchers discovered that much of what PIOs do is reactive rather than proactive, but they are appropriately positioned when policy opportunities arise. Third, many studies use content analysis, focusing on the types of sources cited in crime stories in general or specific types of crime stories (see Chermak, 1995a, 1995b; Chermak & Weiss, 2005, 2006; Ericson, Baranek, & Chan, 1987; Ericson et al., 1989, 1991). This research indicates that police sources account for nearly half of the attributions cited in crime stories, and most of the source attributions are to the police chief, PIO, or someone from the command staff. In addition, as the importance of the story increases, or the focus is on a policy issue, the involvement of police executives increases (Chermak, 1995a; Chermak & Weiss, 2005).

Although there is a considerable amount of research examining the news sources cited within crime stories generally, and some discussion of these sources in program or policy stories, there has yet to be an examination of the sources cited in stories of police consolidation. This is an unfortunate oversight because consolidation is such a contentious issue that involves many key power brokers within a community. That is, law enforcement is not the only agency with a full-time public relations staff tasked with responding to media inquiries, generating press releases about the organization, and distributing information through other outlets such as social media. Other agencies that have a stake in media coverage of consolidation, such as state and local politicians, community members, and firefighters, have also implemented similar strategies to influence how consolidation is presented in the news. Thus, the examination of what sources are emphasized in stories about consolidation and what types of information they provide will provide insights into not only the organizations that have had the greatest stake in this topic but also who has been able to control public discussion about it.

Research Design

The method by which we determined our sample of articles, and coded and analyzed data extracted from the articles themselves, necessitated a degree of compromise and creativity. As stated previously, the manner by which the public gets the news (and indeed, what constitutes “news media” itself) has undergone tremendous changes in the post-Internet era.

The Study Sample

Print media (specifically, local newspapers) remain the most reliable source of information about locally specific government and political phenomena, even as the nature by which this medium is presented to the public is undergoing change. Physical newspapers themselves are currently being consolidated at a rapid rate, with private media aggregation sites purchasing newspapers and eliminating print editions, making them almost entirely Internet based. For our sample, which consists of 10 years of newspaper articles pertaining to consolidation, we found that searching for articles of this nature presented an unusual task because print editions of newspapers are increasingly obsolete and unavailable. To rectify this problem, we used search engines that allowed us to search newspapers that had been archived online through the three most utilized methods. This eliminated the possibility of searching physical newspapers that had not yet been archived electronically, reduced our potential sample by focusing solely on local jurisdictions whose newspapers were searchable electronically, and led to the exclusion of some types of newspapers (i.e., local/community papers) being excluded from analysis. However, we found that the alternative strategy was prohibitive, as access to older copies of physical newspapers has dwindled. Additionally, we found that individual newspapers themselves were often not archiving their own editions electronically with any consistent method, which prohibited us from using their archived editions in a reliable fashion (one such newspaper had arbitrarily archived only one 5-year period in the past 30 years, and there was no apparent plan to archive further). Adding to this challenge, search engines that search archived newspapers are proprietary, that is, the newspapers that are able to be searched by specific search engines are limited to newspapers with which that search engine has vendor agreements. This means that search engines themselves have limited their sample to articles appearing in newspapers that have agreed to be searched by those tools, excluding, presumably, newspapers that do not have such search agreements (some newspapers that are archived online only are able to be searched though their individual Web site search tools). In sum, the use of engine-based electronic searching, while limiting our sample, was the most reliable way to capture a specific period of time in which we wanted to search for a wide range of newspaper reports of consolidation.

We used three search engines that are contemporarily used to search electronic archives of newspaper articles: Lexis-Nexis Academic, ProQuest Newsstand, and Google News. Each of these search engines, as stated previously, has a vendor agreement with a limited number of newspapers that may be searched. Lexis-Nexis Academic has a searching database that contains more than 200 global and national news sources in a group file, although because of vendor restrictions some international sources are restricted. (As explained in the following paragraph, this restriction did not disrupt our sampling strategy.) ProQuest Newsstand’s searching database contains 87 newspapers owned by the Gannett Corporation. Google News’ searching file is more complex to articulate: For proprietary reasons, Google does not disclose the number of newspapers, freelance articles, Weblogs (blogs), or sources searched. This made our selection process more attentive to potential duplication and irrelevancy, as explained in the next section.

We limited our sample to news articles published in newspapers, or by newspaper organizations, excluding articles from feature magazines and television news sources unless it appeared that such articles were also published as print media via a newspaper source. The reason for the focus on newspaper articles was twofold: We theorized that such sources would have a more direct and institutional focus on reporting local jurisdictions’ political and civic processes, and the logistical challenge of overlap or redundancy between varieties of media would be eliminated with focus on the primary type. This focus on newspapers still required a narrowing down of sources obtained from the sample. The search engines sometimes returned results pertaining to news photographs, classified advertising, reader-posted comments on articles, and other sources; these were also excluded unless the photograph was attached to a newspaper article. Another contemporary phenomenon with regard to how newspapers publish articles in the Internet era complicated our sampling strategy further and necessitated a selection process that requires explanation. Often, articles written in one location by a newspaper’s writer will be reported on different source Web sites, much like the way a newswire operated in the pre-Internet era. For instance, it is common for the case of consolidation proposed in the neighboring communities of Neenah and Menasha, Wisconsin, to have been reported in newspapers far from that location. Because we were interested in the manner by which articles about different cases of consolidation may have reflected a variety of interpretations, multiple articles about one specific case of consolidation (as in, one locale) would be included as long as the articles themselves were not identical. The sample was checked for redundancy: If articles from different sources were in fact the same article, all but one was discarded.

We searched the newspaper databases from a 10-year period from 2002 to 2012. We searched using the following terms to locate articles in each database: police fire consolidation, police fire merger, public safety consolidation, and public safety department. We did not include quotations around these terms to capture the broadest number of articles as possible. We also realized that one of the search databases would return articles that had only two of the search terms (police and consolidation). This made it much more difficult to weed through irrelevant articles, but, importantly, we believe the articles that were included are representative of the newspaper articles that were published during the time frame of the study. The overall initial sample was 306 articles, which was reduced to 294 following elimination of redundant articles.

Coding of Articles

The coding strategy for the articles was to read each article as presented, and reread the article with the task of identifying embedded information listed in this section. Once this procedure was completed, the information would be stored in Microsoft Excel files and converted to statistical analysis software for analysis. The information obtained from each article targeted a specific research objective as will be explained here, allowing us to construct statements about the portrayal of consolidation in the news media and the nature of relationships between stakeholders. Also important was the potential exclusion of certain groups, such as organized groups and the public at large. The procedure for coding attempted to dissect the articles and portraying their complex framework in words. Two coders were trained about the codebook, and then they were asked to independently code multiple newspaper articles. We then discussed areas of disagreement and clarified coding rules. Twenty-five percent of the article sample was then randomly selected and independently coded by both coders. A reliability analysis was completed to determine percentage agreement between two coders. Intercoder reliability was .89.

Article particulars

Several identifying or “demographic” variables for each article were obtained. We wanted to know more about the source of each article: Newspaper name, media organization, consolidated media organization (such as Patch, MLive, or another news source if applicable), size of the article by word count, and the existence of a comments section were coded. As with other information regarding the publication of newspaper articles in the Internet era, we found that many other items we were initially interested in (such as page number signifying the “importance” of articles) were made obsolete by the publication of articles in online environments. Our interest in the existence of a reader comments section was to support future interest in studying the interactive qualities of these articles with the publication of comments from citizens and readers. Lastly, we were interested in whether the articles mentioned community policing as a concept, allowing us to gauge the author’s presentation of consolidation as having impact on this critical feature of 20th century American police work.

Date of the article

It was important to note the publication date of the article to see whether coverage changed over time, and if it was specifically impacted by the economic recession that started in 2008.

Organizational information

One of the critical challenges of the coding effort, and the strongest feature of this project, was to identify each organization mentioned in the article and their relationship to others. The articles often mentioned multiple organizations (such as police and fire departments, communications centers, political and advocacy organizations, different communities of citizens, different political bodies and interests, and others) all having a stake in one “event” or consideration of consolidation. The initial coding task was to determine if organizations were actually represented in the article: Police and fire departments, local or state political organizations or representatives, citizens or communities, and labor organizations comprised the five organizations of interest. Once we were able to identify if they were mentioned, we attempted to identify the primary mentioned, secondary mentioned, and successive organizations and identifying information for each (nature of service provided and representation mentioned). We were also interested in breaking down the type of government or political organization or representative: We wanted to know if it was a state or local government leader (such as mayor, governor, or state representative), body (such as city council or county commission), or other arm of the government such as budget office or city manager. We were also interested in the extent of representation of community members, such as whether an organized community group was mentioned or if the author simply included community points of view.

History of consolidation efforts and experiences

We were interested in knowing the extent to which organizations had experience with consolidation, such as whether there were previous attempts or formal proposals for consolidation. This information was recorded for each organization mentioned.

Nature of economic situation

To further examine our interest in the state of the economy as a potential driver of discussions about consolidation, we wanted to know the current state of the jurisdiction’s budgetary, personnel, and economic trajectory profile at the time of the article’s publication. This information was not always apparent and required a close reading of the article itself to glean for references to budget cuts, layoffs or furloughs, and other indicators of budgetary performance. We were also interested in knowing if the budget was being used as leverage to sway opinion (either public or civic) in a specific direction with regard to consolidation efforts, as it is a consistent critique of consolidation efforts that a faltering economy gives rise to calls for consolidation.

Other variables mentioned regarding the impact of consolidation

We were interested in determining what specific indicators were mentioned by the author of factors that would be affected by consolidation efforts. Did the author mention the potential effect of consolidation on quality of life, crime rates, response rates for first responders, community fear of crime, or disrupted relationships between organizations? Did the author detail positions taken with regard to these issues on the part of specific individuals or groups in the case? We were interested in outlining these features of each individual “argument” regarding consolidation. In doing so, we attempted to label each organization or individual representative as presenting positions that appeared supportive, unsupportive, ambivalent, or portraying an interest in further discussion and fact finding. The final categorical coding effort was to label each individual’s perspective as argumentative at all, to get an impression of whether the article was actually portraying points of view, and how the author was “constructing” a story of consolidation from the perspective of individuals involved in the case.

Sources

Reporters often turn to individuals in the community for comment about a particular issue. These sources are often named in the story and are attached to a quotation. We captured up to five sources cited in each of these articles, and we also documented what they said about consolidation.

Analysis of Data

For the purposes of this article, we have restricted the analysis of data to presentation of descriptive statistics and cross-tabulations for some variables with regard to establishing definitions of the news articles’ portrayals of consolidation. The overall “story” we anticipate telling about the article sample can be obtained through detailing how specific groups and their opinions are presented and reflected in the articles’ words.

Findings

The sample includes 294 consolidation articles matching the key words used for the time frame of the study. Story size ranged from 107 to 3,390 words, but, on average, stories were 678 words in length. Table 1 also includes data on the stage and type of consolidation, as well as providing the distribution of stories by year. The majority of the articles in the sample focus on agencies that were in some stage of the process of considering consolidation (68.4%). A little more than 18% of the articles are about communities that formally proposed some type of consolidation; 25% of the articles are about communities where it has already been implemented; and a little less than 5% are general stories where consolidation is not being specifically considered. We identified the state and region for each newspaper that presented an article. There was at least one article about a consolidation effort occurring in 38 different states. There was, however, some regional concentration of these articles. Specifically, 30% of the articles were published in the Northeast, 45% published in the Midwest, 15.4% in the South, and 9.2% published in the West.

Table 1.

Basic Characteristics of the Newspaper Sample.

Variable	Results
Total number of articles	294
Average number of words	677.75
Stage of consolidation
Considering	68%
Proposed	18%
Implemented	9%
General	5%
Type of consolidation
Neighboring agencies	71.8%
Within agency	11.6%
Consolidation of specific services	4.8%
Police–fire consolidation	1.7%
Multiple types of consolidation	3.4%
No specific type discussed	6.8%
Location (region)
Northeast	30.0%
Midwest	45.4%
South	15.4%
West	9.2%
Year
2002	3.7%
2003	8.2%
2004	7.8%
2005	9.2%
2006	7.5%
2007	4.1%
2008	8.5%
2009	14.3%
2010	12.9%
2011	14.6%
2012	9.2%

We captured the type of consolidation discussed in these news articles. More than 70% of the stories were about neighboring law enforcement agencies (either across borders or with overlapping jurisdictions such as cities within counties) involved in consolidation. Some of the stories, approximately 12%, examined law enforcement agencies that were consolidating units within an agency, and 5% were consolidating specific services, such as communications. More than 3% of the stories discuss multiple types of consolidation, and only 2% discuss police–fire consolidation. Nearly 7% did not discuss any specific types of consolidation proposed in those specific communities, but instead focused on the general pros and cons of consolidating law enforcement services.

Table 1 also includes the distribution of stories by year (2002–2012). As one would expect, there was a general increase in the number of articles published on consolidation after the recession. In fact, nearly 60% of the total sample of articles was published between 2008 and 2012. The highest percentages of consolidation stories were published in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Consolidation is of great interest to various stakeholders in the community, including government officials, fire departments, community groups, and labor organizations. Table 2 provides data about the nature of representation of these different stakeholders (note that law enforcement/law enforcement agencies were mentioned in all stories in the sample). Government agencies were most likely to be included in stories about consolidation. Nearly 95% of the stories included mention of some state or local government agency. In fact, government agencies were frequently presented in these stories regardless of the stage of consolidation being considered. Typically, a mayor or other high-ranking political official was included. Forty-six percent of the stories included discussion of the mayor of communities in question. Other politicians were mentioned in 35% of the stories, and county boards of commissioners or city council representatives were cited in more than 15% of the stories. Other officials, such as finance officials, judges, and utilities representatives, were rarely presented in these stories. Community organizations and neighborhood associations were mentioned in 38% of stories. Community input was somewhat more likely to be provided in stories where consolidation was already implemented, and somewhat less likely in general consolidation stories. Labor unions were mentioned in 29% of all stories, but nearly 43% of stories when consolidation has been proposed (potentially indicating a heightening of local debate in such contexts) or in general consolidation stories.

Table 2.

Stakeholders Highlighted in Newspaper Stories by Stage of Consolidation.

Variable	All stories (%)	Considering consolidation (%)	Proposed consolidation (%)	Implemented consolidation (%)	General (not considering) (%)
Fire
Mentioned?	15.6	17.4	18.5	24.0	21.4
History	3.7	1.5	7.4	12.0	7.1
Training	6.5	6.5	3.7	8.0	14.3
Safety	15.0	13.4	14.8	24.0	21.4
Strength of relationship	8.8	9.0	5.6	12.0	14.3
Government
Mentioned?	94.6	97.5	94.4	80.0	78.6
Mayor	45.9	42.4	52.8	60.0	50.0
Council/board	15.5	18.2	11.3	5.0	8.3
Finance	2.1	1.5	3.8	0.0	8.3
Other politician	35.0	36.9	28.3	35.0	33.3
Other official	1.6	1.0	3.8	0.0	0.0
Community
Mentioned?	37.8	38.3	35.2	44.0	28.6
Labor
Mentioned?	28.9	24.9	42.6	24.0	42.9

Fire departments are discussed in a little less than 16% of stories, but this number is somewhat higher than expected considering that less than 2% of the stories were specifically about police–fire consolidation. One such reason for this distinction is that many of the articles discussed local budget cutting in general terms, focusing on potential solutions that may have captured the phenomenon of fire safety without actually focusing on specific plans to consolidate police and fire departments into a singular “public safety” department. More specifically, fire safety is mentioned in about 15% of stories, fire training in 7% of stories, and the history of the fire department is provided in nearly 4% of stories. The strength of the relationship between the fire department and other key stakeholders is provided in 9% of all stories.

Public discussion of consolidation is driven by economic concerns. In Table 3, data are presented on the primary reason that a community may be considering, pursuing, or implementing consolidation. In nearly 85% of the stories, the primary reason given is economic or budgetary issues and the potential promise of cost savings garnered through some form of consolidation. The emphasis on the economy is not surprising, as local economic issues are a priority news topic and reporters were interested in this topic because the change could be linked to the economic downturn. The only other issue that was mentioned in about one in 10 stories was the need to improve the efficiency of services, a phenomenon that is closely intertwined with a discussion of economic benefits. The general lack of discussion regarding the effect of consolidation on quality and comprehensiveness of service is interesting, given field research, at least in terms of public safety consolidation, reveals that public safety officials who oversee consolidated agencies often claim a key to consolidation success is to focus on these outcomes as opposed to strictly cost savings (Wilson, 2012). On occasion, other factors driving discussion of consolidation were mentioned in news stories, but these reasons were only mentioned in a couple of stories during the time frame.

Table 3.

Presentation of Economic Issues by Stage of Consolidation.

Variable	All stories (%)	Considering consolidation (%)	Proposed consolidation (%)	Implemented consolidation (%)	General (not considering) (%)
Primary reason
Cost savings	84.4	83.6	96.3	68.0	78.6
Efficiency	10.2	10.0	3.7	24.0	14.3
Safety	0.7	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Other	1.2	1.5	0.0	0.0	0.0
None	3.4	4.0	0.0	4.0	0.0
Economy mentioned?	90.8	90.5	98.1	76.0	92.9
Economy used as leverage?	39.8	43.3	33.3	28.0	35.7
Budget negotiations discussed?	27.2	27.4	31.5	12.0	35.7
Personnel hiring?	1.4	1.0	3.7	0.0	0.0
Personnel layoffs?	15.0	14.9	13.0	8.0	35.7

It is interesting that the primary reason for consolidation also varied by stage of consolidation. For instance, the promise of cost savings was emphasized as an important reason when communities were considering consolidating or when consolidation was proposed. Once there has been a commitment to consolidation, cost savings remain an important issue, but there is less of an emphasis on it. Instead, there is a considerable increase in the discussion of efficiency as an important reason to implement consolidation. One reason for this may be that communities engaged in formal proposals of consolidation may have already reached agreement, as discussion of the promise of cost savings transitions to a more concrete discussion of how specifically consolidation would work to make operations more efficient.

Table 3 includes other variables about how economic issues were presented in news stories on consolidation. First, it is not surprising that the economy is mentioned in nine out of 10 stories. It was slightly less likely to be mentioned once consolidation has been implemented, but it is still discussed in more than 76% of these implementation stories. We examined whether the economy was more likely to be mentioned in stories after the 2008 recession compared with previously, but there was no difference comparing the two time periods. This finding makes it clear that the potential or perceived economic benefits of consolidation are critical to public discussions of it, regardless of the intensity of external economic trends. Second, we examined whether the economy was used as leverage to justify moving to consolidation. The economy was used in this manner in about 40% of the stories. It was somewhat more likely to be used as leverage in stories where consolidation was being considered, when it was proposed, and following the 2008 recession. Third, specific budget negotiations were mentioned in 27% of the stories, and such negotiations were more likely to be mentioned when consolidation was being considered or proposed compared with when it was being implemented.

We collected some qualitative data on the nature of the discussions of the budget. Often when the budget was discussed, news reporters emphasized a “fiscal crisis” that illustrated that budgets had declined or were deteriorating, suggesting a sense of urgency about potential solutions. These stories also demonstrated that funding at current levels was such that current service provisions were simply unsustainable, and thus there was a need to be creative by reducing costs to balance the budget. This distinction is critical in considerations of how budget negotiations were portrayed by news media. When such “fiscal crises” were portrayed, these creative solutions almost always included consolidation as an antidote to these unsustainable practices, with consolidation in some form seen often as an inevitability.

The discussion of the budget is linked closely to consideration of personnel issues. It is very rare for reporters to discuss the hiring of new personnel as a result of consolidation; this is the reality of consolidation, as it is a combination of agencies and thus shared services that leads to needing fewer personnel. Personnel layoffs were emphasized in about 15% of the stories. It is interesting that in stories where consolidation is being discussed but not considered, the percentage of stories that discuss the potential for personnel being laid off is mentioned in more than 35% of the stories.

The economic benefits and costs were obviously discussed frequently in these stories and were the primary motivation for considering, proposing, or implementing consolidation in almost all communities. However, we thought it would be important to examine whether news media might consider other potential outcomes that may result from consolidating police departments. Table 4 considers how various community-related outcomes were presented in these stories across different stages of consolidation.

Table 4.

Presentation of Community Outcomes by Stage of Consolidation.

Variable	All stories (%)	Considering consolidation (%)	Proposed consolidation (%)	Implemented consolidation (%)	General (not considering) (%)
Quality of life	27.2	24.4	37.0	32.0	21.4
Crime rate	10.5	7.5	22.2	12.0	7.1
Fear of crime	9.5	8.5	14.8	8.0	7.1
Community policing	1.7	1.0	1.9	8.0	0.0

Overall, how consolidation might impact the quality of life in a community is discussed in more than 27% of the newspaper stories. The potential impact on the crime rate and fear of crime is discussed in only about one in 10 stories. The impact of consolidation on community policing initiatives is rarely discussed. These outcomes were presented somewhat differently, depending on the stage of consolidation considered. For example, reporters are much more likely to discuss how consolidation might impact the crime rate in stories where consolidation has been proposed compared with those communities that are considering or have implemented consolidation. Again, this speaks to the possibility that at the formal proposal phase, attention is turned to realistic scenarios of how consolidation practices may impact citizens’ everyday lives. Fear of crime and quality of life issues are also more likely to be presented in stories where consolidation has been proposed. Although community policing is rarely discussed in consolidation stories, it is somewhat more likely to be presented when a community is in the process of implementing consolidation, suggesting that at the implementation phase, real policy implications are being discovered with the consolidation effort.

News sources are critical to story selection and construction. Reporters are under time pressure to produce news stories every single day. Media personnel manage this pressure by implementing strategies that increase the efficiency of story construction. Perhaps the most critical of these strategies is the reliance on readily available and willing sources—an individual whom a reporter can get in contact with quickly and who is willing to provide information in a timely manner. Sources are chosen not only because of their willingness to participate, but also because they provide credibility to a story, as they tend to be those community representatives whom the public has come to expect to be knowledgeable and informed about particular issues. A news story about plans to consolidate is not routine. These stories are much rarer compared with ordinary crime stories. Reporters will have more time to produce these stories, and, in general, are more likely to reach out to diverse sources representing various stakeholders in the community. The results that examine the sources cited in consolidation stories are provided in Table 5.

Table 5.

Sources Cited in Consolidation Stories.

Source	Total (%)	First source (%)	Second source (%)	Third source (%)	Fourth source (%)	Fifth source (%)
Mayor	26.0	37.6	23.4	10.5	4.2	0.0
Fire representatives	14.0	3.4	12.5	35.2	33.3	33.3
Police chief	12.6	11.2	31.0	21.0	4.2	0.0
Community member	9.0	6.1	7.6	14.3	18.8	16.7
City council	7.9	10.2	7.1	6.7	2.1	0.0
Labor representatives	7.9	3.7	4.3	8.6	35.4	50.0
Other local politician	3.4	4.7	3.3	1.0	2.1	0.0
Other state politician	3.0	4.1	3.8	0.0	0.0	0.0
Media source	2.9	6.8	2.2	1.0	0.0	0.0
Governor	2.5	4.4	1.6	0.0	0.0	0.0
Other police	1.9	2.0	2.2	1.9	0.0	0.0
Political candidate	1.6	3.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Sheriff	1.4	2.4	1.1	0.0	0.0	0.0

The information on up to five sources was collected for each story. These sources and the results for combining all sources are provided. Of the community stakeholders who might be contacted by news reporters, politicians are the most frequently cited source overall and are more likely to be a lead source in a news story. Governors, mayors, city council members, and other state and local politicians account for more than 44% of the sources cited in these news stories. Importantly, these sources represented nearly 65% of the first source category. Although various law enforcement sources accounted for approximately 15% of all sources and police chiefs for more than 30% of second sources and more than 20% of third sources, the representation of police officials as sources is not nearly as high as was expected, considering their frequent representation in crime stories generally and in sources about specific programs. Fire representatives account for 14% of the overall sources, and such sources tended to be included as fourth or fifth sources. Similarly, labor sources and community members accounted for between 8% and 9% of overall sources, but their involvement as sources increased as fourth and fifth sources.

Finally, we also collected data about what judgments these sources provided in these stories. We used a code scheme on judgments used in past research (Chermak, 1995b), where quotes are categorized as factual statements, evaluative (in a positive, negative, or neutral way), or if specific recommendations were made. These findings are provided by the main category of source (police, government, fire, community, and labor). Table 6 provides these results. Government officials are substantially more likely to provide positive statements in favor of consolidation. Nearly 64% of the attributions to government sources were such positive statements. Police provide positive statements about 25% of the time, fire about 29% of the time, community members 37% of time, and labor 25% of the time. Initially, evaluative judgment numbers for fire service variables appeared somewhat high given the traditional controversy surrounding consolidation of public services, and the positions fire departments and fire labor unions have taken against it (International Association of Fire Chiefs [IAFC], 2009a, 2009b; International Association of Fire Fighters [IAFF], 2009, 2011). However, an examination of the specific articles in which fire department judgment is favorable or supportive reveals that none of these cases involved the consolidation of police and fire services into a consolidated public safety department, an entity where police and fire services are in some way integrated, such as when officers are cross-trained to perform both tasks. It is this variety of consolidation that is traditionally most controversial among fire professionals, with the IAFC releasing “position statements” reiterating their opposition to this variety of consolidation (IAFC, 2009a). Overall, the evaluative statements provided in these stories were either positive or neutral, but when negative judgments are provided, they are somewhat more likely to be provided by community or labor sources.

Table 6.

Evaluative Judgment Perspective Provided in News Stories.

Type of judgment	Police (%)	Government (%)	Fire (%)	Community (%)	Labor (%)
Factual	11.9	15.9	14.3	13.7	13.1
Evaluative/positive	25.4	63.8	29.3	37.0	25.1
Evaluative/negative	10.2	4.8	9.5	13.7	19.4
Evaluative/neutral	52.5	15.1	45.6	35.6	40.3
Recommendation	1.1	0.0	0.4	0.0	2.1

Discussion

Although there is a large body of research on media coverage of crime and criminal justice issues, there is significantly less information about policing issues generally, and there has not been a study that specifically examines how the consolidation of law enforcement agencies has been presented in the news. This gap is unfortunate, as the number of communities considering the consolidation of law enforcement services is large, and the decision to consolidate could potentially change the culture of a community. It is thus very important for community members to be well informed, engaged, and critical of the reasons why a community might decide to partner with another in this manner, and significantly change how law enforcement services are provided. There are, of course, multiple ways that community members might find out about such important decisions, but media coverage of this issue remains critical. This research documents about the manner by which consolidation is presented in the news, highlighting how community interests, the economy, and other potential outcomes are presented. In addition, it explores what sources news reporters rely on when constructing consolidation stories and what these sources are used to say.

Given these data, our research discovers that the “story” told by news media about consolidation is decidedly limited in scope to what public officials, namely, government representatives, wish to portray. A large number of the consolidation stories in the sample focused on specific communities that were considering it, at different stages of this process. This finding is not surprising, as the movement toward consolidation has increased generally in the past 10 years, especially following the recession that began in 2008. In general, when news media cover a police issue or police program, the focus of the story is presenting it from the police perspective. Because consolidation has a broad impact, however, a large number of key community stakeholders also have a great interest in the presentation of consolidation. Politicians, especially the mayor or representative of the city council, are frequently presented in these stories and discuss the merits of moving to consolidation. Politicians are presented in more than 95% of the stories, and they are the top source quoted in these stories. Importantly, they are the source that is most likely to provide a positive assessment about the move to consolidation. It is clear from these results that even though the consolidation stories that were examined for this study involved law enforcement joining with other agencies or streamlining services, politicians are at the forefront promoting the promises of consolidating. These promises almost always involve potential economic benefit.

Other community interests are also well represented in consolidation stories. Community members, fire officials, and representatives of labor organizations are brought into the discussion of news media. These community representatives are less frequently mentioned in sources, and when they are used as sources, they are less emphasized. That is, they are not as frequently presented as law enforcement and government sources, and even when they are included in stories, they tend to be used near the end of a story. The implication here is that, by and large, government officials and police administrators have used the media to successfully frame the arguments for and against consolidation with only subscript consideration by other groups such as community members and organized labor. It is rare that any sources provide a negative assessment of consolidation (short of infrequent guest editorials in the sample), but labor, fire, and community sources are somewhat more likely to be critical of the move to consolidation. This finding speaks directly to the perceived controversy of consolidation efforts in the eyes of the public: Media rarely involve critiques of consolidation efforts in the form of community or other subgroups in articles about consolidation, preferring to use resources that are less critical and more invested in potential economic benefit as a theme driving consolidation.

It is not surprising that the economy is the primary issue that is discussed in consolidation stories, mentioned in nine out of 10 news stories in our sample. News reporters emphasize that the economy has impacted the ability to provide services, and consolidation will result in cost savings. Budget negotiations are discussed, and the economy is often provided as leverage when justifying the need to consolidate agencies. The only other issue mentioned is a potential of improving the delivery of government services. Rarely do reporters discuss how consolidation will impact public safety, fear of crime, and quality of life. In light of this finding, it is critical to note that those impacts are lacking along with the criticism often brought by community members and labor organizations.

It is important to remember that all of the stories considered in this analysis focus on law enforcement consolidating, and usually the focus was on the merger of multiple agencies. Law enforcement was certainly represented in these stories, but not at the level one would expect considering how frequently they are mentioned in crime stories and the strategies they have adopted to effectively interact with the media. In reading the stories, a general impression developed that it was a foregone conclusion that agencies had to consolidate because there was no other option, but that the issue was being championed by other sources, usually local politicians. Although consolidation can critically impact the culture of agency, morale, and relationships with community organizations and leaders, such consequences simply are not considered by reporters. Moreover, even though there is research that looks at issues like cost savings and other impacts, reporters do not access this information and instead assume that it is a foregone conclusion that consolidation can only be positive. The general perspective offered, then, is a decidedly one-sided institutional view: that consolidation has potential economic benefits that are of urgent importance in desperate times, and that the ripple effect of such decisions in transforming communities are not as important as saving money, even if the specifics of such promises are underexplored.

The results thus speak to the importance of law enforcement agencies more aggressively devising an organizational strategy to communicate to the public about this important issue. Law enforcement would benefit by broadening the discussion on the important issues surrounding consolidation. All government agencies, including law enforcement, have significantly revised their approach to interacting with the public as the media environment has evolved. It would make sense to take full advantage of various communication sources to put out as much information about this issue as possible. Community meetings and interactions with community groups are always going to be an important way to discuss such critical issues, but it would seem that systematically using other sources beyond their contacts in the media, such as highlighting issues via social media, might help communities fully engage the implications of the move to a consolidated agency.

Future research would benefit from exploring media coverage over a longer period of time. We expected that the recession would alter the nature of public discussion of consolidation, but it appears as though there was very little impact. It did appear to give rise to more discussion overall, but the perceived financial benefits of consolidation remained the paramount focus. It may be that prior to the recession, smaller communities were suffering economically much longer, and thus consolidation had already been widely considered. It would be interesting to compare the presentation of this issue during a period of considerable economic strength. Similarly, it would be of significant interest to capture current media coverage of consolidation to a period when consolidation was occurring but the media landscape looked much different. Specifically, media critics have discussed how fewer and fewer corporations account for most of news being provided to the public (Bagdikian, 2004). For example, there were more than 50 major media companies in the United States in the early 1980s, but currently there are only five. There are important questions about whether media consolidation has impacted how reporters might cover this issue.¹ One might expect that reporters are less critical of this issue today or even that editors/owners are less likely to cover it because of the current consolidated media landscape. As noted earlier, police consolidation is not just a recent phenomenon, and thus it would be valuable to compare current consolidation coverage with a period where the media landscape was much less consolidated.

There are also several limitations of the study that could be addressed in future research using different research strategies. First, it is important to recognize that the reliance on electronic sources may bias the accounts analyzed. For example, it is likely that such sources are more likely to include metropolitan papers compared with more local papers, and one might expect some differences in emphasis on context and clear understanding of the details about a consolidation effort. Similarly, although we made considerable effort to validate the articles included within the sources used, it is true that these are likely to change over time, and it is difficult to know whether an increase in articles is a true increase or simply the inclusion of more sources within online databases.² Second, the search terms used for this study narrowed to the focus to specific types of consolidation efforts, especially those involving police and fire departments and multiple agency consolidations. Although these are important types of consolidation to consider, the search terms exclude other types of strategies used, such as the contracting of police services. Thus, future research would benefit by exploring additional types of consolidation that are presented in the news. Third, we believe that such limitations would best be addressed by using additional research methodologies. As was highlighted earlier, prior media research has used various methodologies to examine how issues are presented in the news. This study used content analysis to examine what is emphasized in consolidation stories, but it would be highly beneficial to supplement these findings with interviews of reporters from various types of newspapers, law enforcement officials, and other key community stakeholders. Such interviews would provide insights into why the issue is presented as it is, the motivations of key stakeholders, and the obstacles faced to providing more context to the presentation of this important issue.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was supported by Grant Number 2012-CK-WX-K023 awarded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions contained herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. References to specific agencies, companies, products, or services should not be considered an endorsement by the authors or the U.S. Department of Justice. Rather, the references are illustrations to supplement discussion of the issues.

Notes

Author Biographies

Steven Chermak is a professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University. Dr. Chermak’s research includes activities in the following areas: far-right extremism, the effectiveness of strategies used to prevent terrorism and crime, and the media’s role in relation to crime, policing, and terrorism issues. Current research in policing focuses on the efficiency of different types of public safety consolidation models and includes research on the characteristics of lone wolf terrorism and county-level predicators of far-right violence.

Charles Scheer is an assistant professor in the School of Criminal Justice at The University of Southern Mississippi. His research specializations include police workforce management, police training, and organizational development. His past publications involve police recruitment and retention strategies, police civil liability, and a national assessment of police training capacities.

Jeremy M. Wilson (PhD, The Ohio State University) is an associate professor and research director in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University (MSU). He founded and directs the MSU Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection and the Program on Police Consolidation and Shared Services. Prior to joining MSU, Wilson was a behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation, where he served as founding associate director of the Center on Quality Policing and founding director of the Police Recruitment and Retention Clearinghouse. He has been a visiting scholar in the Australian Resource Council’s Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security at Griffith University, the Willet Chair in Public Safety in the Center for Public Safety at Northwestern University, and an adjunct professor of public policy at Carnegie Mellon University.

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