No cop talk here. These North Texas police departments have fun with serious messages

When it comes to keeping the public informed about safety, let’s just say the Southlake and Fort Worth police departments take a different approach.

Unlike many departments that take a more sober tack in their delivery, these departments eliminate “cop talk.” Instead, they have replaced it with a less formal, more relaxed approach to communication, all the while still getting a serious message across.

In Southlake, Public Information Officer Brad Uptmore began a campaign of “humanizing the badge” when he came on board five years ago. In Fort Worth, PIO Brad Perez specializes in “out of the box” presentations.

This has paid off in the many views their departments are receiving via social media and, most recently, with each winning a pair of the nation’s most prestigious video awards.

”When I was a younger officer, I never wanted to lose the fun, creative side of me, which was tough with the amount of things you deal with daily on the job,” said Uptmore, a film major at Baylor. “I worked for Dallas PD for 10 years, so really not falling into that trap of becoming jaded and disgruntled became a huge goal.

”This job ages you mentally, so I was able to have self-awareness and recognize that I need to remember I’m a person too, not just a cop. While you mainly see negative things on the news about police officers, there’s a ton more good than bad … and police work is hilarious.”

As he built Southlake’s social identity, Uptmore reached out to Perez, who had been producing his own brand of videos since 2015, including a series of FWPD videos in the vein of “Star Wars” that caught Uptmore’s attention.

”He gave me tips and tricks, and I saved his number. Facebook was a different beast back then with music rights, etc.,” Uptmore said.

”I learned long ago that by using pop culture or trending references and providing a unique ‘out of the box’ approach when it comes to advertising our police department on social media, it has provided more positive engagement and even national, sometimes international, recognition for our police department,” Perez said.

”There was even a time in 2018 when I was advised NOT to create any more recruitment videos because we were completely full. This approach with our social media also explains why the Fort Worth Police Department has garnered over 340,000 followers on our Facebook page alone.”

The latest of many awards won by both departments was at the Golden Post Awards presented by Government Social Media LLC, the largest network of government social media professionals in the U.S. Both Southlake and Fort Worth won for Best Long Form Video Golden Post. Each was a hiring video. It was Fort Worth’s third time to be honored by the elite organization and Southlake’s second.

”There was a month or two in 2022, where basically the whole nation knew that Southlake and Fort Worth PDs were hiring, so mission accomplished,” Uptmore said. “I’d wager to say hiring is a top three issue with almost any police department nationwide these days.”

Latest winning video

Uptmore called upon a country music legend — or a facsimile thereof, for his department’s award-winning video. Perez, meanwhile, went back in his memories to one of his favorite movies to come up with his idea.

”I almost knew that if one did take off, I’d be thrilled that the entire nation knew we were hiring versus just our audience — and that worked with the George Strait video,” Uptmore said. “Our applications submitted from 2021 to 2022 increased over 400%, and I like to think some of that was our videos, but it’s also because we have a $10,000 hiring incentive.”

Yes, you read right. A George Strait video to help bring potential new officers to Southlake. Well, it wasn’t actually the troubadour himself, but rather a tribute band. Uptmore, as he is prone to do, had written his own song to the tune of “Amarillo by Morning,” and he reached out to Derek Spence for vocals.

Spence asked if he could be in the video.

”Hoooo boy, thank goodness he was willing to do that. He is an absolute dead ringer for King George, and he did everything I asked him to,” Uptmore said. “We had one small window on one night to film this after he put on a show, and despite me sweating and having an international flight the next morning at 6, he and his bandmates were so understanding, kind, and supportive.

”There are still people who comment, thinking he’s the real George Strait, and man, I couldn’t ask for more.”

Perez and his department created what he calls the “Officer Big B” video, featuring his friend and fellow officer Buddy Calzada. He got the idea one day while driving by a used car lot.

”I was looking at the cars, and it reminded me of a movie I had seen in my youth called ‘Used Cars’ starring Kurt Russell. Then it made me think of those crazy, over the top, personalities I’ve seen in those commercials over the years,” Perez said. “I started picturing our police vehicles, units, and officers being promoted in such a way and decided to write a script.

”I wrote the script and showed it to Buddy the next day, and as he read it, he looked at me and said, ‘I want to do this!’ and the rest is history.”

With over a million views on Facebook and over a thousand applications turned in, Perez said the FWPD recently started one of the largest classes — if not the largest ever — of recruits with 77.

”A supervisor in recruiting advised us that several applicants, even one as far away as New York, stated that they wanted to join the Fort Worth Police Department because of the Officer Big B video,” Perez said.

”Having the pleasure of working with Buddy in our unit and seeing what a huge personality he has, I have had him star in several of my video creations. Officer Big B, by far, has been the most popular video that starred Buddy, receiving national recognition.”

The Officer Big B video received spots on Fox National News, ABC National News, and even the Kelly Clarkson Show to just name a few.

Other awards

Both departments have enjoyed their share of success, including Southlake bringing home the “Oscar of the PR world,” as Uptmore calls it, when they won the Silver Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America in 2019 for Most Effective Campaign $5,000 or less.

One of the more popular Facebook posts from Southlake was something Uptmore titled the “Hey Gurl Post.” It was written in the form of a letter to a woman who was suspected of identity theft. Instead of the traditional post of looking for a criminal, it contained lipstick emojis (because she had a lipstick tattoo on her neck) and girl talk, revealing information about the case and the kind of trouble she was in.

It ended with the phrase, “Gurl, CALL ME.” In less than a day, it reached more than three million people and drew almost two million engagements.

Another post that was simply of an orange plastic getting run over in a school zone went worldwide and received over two million responses. Likewise, another showing an officer holding an umbrella over a man in handcuffs being arrested in the rain was extremely popular.

”From the beginning, Brad’s task has been to humanize the badge through social media engagement. And he has executed with incredible skill,” Southlake Mayor John Huffman said. “Yes, his posts are eye-catching and funny. But there’s a method to the madness. He’s figured out that when he makes communication catchy, people pay attention. And now, our community knows and loves our officers, both police and fire, because they see them as people, not just uniforms.”

Not to be outdone, Perez and the FWPD have had some eye-popping feedback from their posts, including 21 million views for a Stormtrooper Recruitment video, six million for their Git Up Challenge video, and three million for a Lyp Sync Challenge.

”I just stay the course and continue to try and make the Fort Worth Police Department the best representation of a place where you can be a police officer, but you can still be yourself and have fun,” Perez said. “Because when it comes down to whether something I’ve created is a success or not, I always look at the numbers.”

Keeping on

Be sure that both Perez and Uptmore have more unique presentations that will make their way to video.

”I get imposter syndrome, or I’ll think that serendipity has finally worn off, and then I get a creative version of writer’s block,” he said. “When I hit the jackpot on a graphic or a video of something I created, my gas tank gets full again.

”My brain works like a CNN stock ticker, where idea after idea just constantly scrolls through, and it’s so rewarding and amazing that there’s not too much I can’t do these days.”

And yes, there is a lot more coming from both. Uptmore said he currently has five videos in the works, with upcoming ones ranging from green screen cheese to Wes Anderson to coordinating a string quartet to play while the officers deliver their message.

”I keep a pulse on what everyone is talking about and what’s in the news, and if it’s positive and I can combine it into the police and fire worlds, I give it a shot,” he said.

Meanwhile, Perez is playing it a little closer to the vest with his future plans.

”Yes, I have more unique ideas in mind, but I keep them there until it’s time to create them. I always want my work to be a surprise,” he said.

“The FWPD Public Relations Team does outstanding work and I am happy to see the positive response our videos receive. It is always great when we can engage with our community members on social media in a fun and creative way,” Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes said.

Calzada said he and Uptmore have had ideas of doing some collaborative videos, but with their busy schedules and department needs, that hasn’t happened yet.

”We haven’t been able to accomplish that yet. Hopefully, we can film something in the near future,” Calzada said. “Brad and I have been friends for about five years and enjoy watching each department’s creativity team’s social media content.”

Uptmore added that a presentation doesn’t always have to be the highest produced, best planned, or most over the top to be popular. It’s all about striking the right chord.

”Chief (James) Brandon never lets me forget that after all of the stuff I’ve created, our number one most watched video is still a video of a student recording an officer walking a ferret,” he said.