Boston Police spokesman visits Crisis Communications course

By Meredith Mason ’14

Officer James Kenneally, lead spokesman for the Boston Police Department, spoke to Salve Regina students last week about how Twitter drove the organization’s crisis communications strategy during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

For five days, the Boston Police Department utilized Twitter to disseminate up-to-date information to the public. From the moments after the second explosion erupted to the days following the capture of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Twitter emerged as a platform for spreading correct information among the media.

Throughout the past semester, students in Scott Fraser’s Crisis Communications course have discussed the fast-paced structure of communications management and how organizations like the Boston Police Department can succeed by having these plans in place. Fraser serves as an adjunct professor for the Department of English and currently operates his own firm, Fraser Communications Group.

“Crisis communications is what we do every day at the Boston Police Department,” Kenneally said. “Twitter allowed us to educate folks and get much needed information out there.”

For Salve Regina students, Kenneally was able to provide a firsthand account of an event they had studied throughout the semester. “Having Kenneally speak to our class was a perfect way for us to wrap up the course in crisis communications,” Lindsay LaChapelle ’15 said. “Not only was it timely, it also resonated with everything that we’ve learned throughout the semester.”