son of a...that's gonna leave a mark.

By Kent Mallett, NewarkAdvocate.com:

Fire Chief Mark Huggins and Newark Auto Electric owner Ronald Lohr Jr. await a judge’s ruling on the city’s requirement of a key box for firefighters to gain entry into the business.

Newark Auto Electric, 357 S. 30th St., appealed the Board of Building Appeals’ 2-2 vote, which upheld the city’s mandate for installation of the key box to avoid forcing entry.

Both sides have filed their briefs, the latest Monday, and the case sits before Licking County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Marcelain.

The city had an ordinance since 1996 requiring all new commercial buildings to install the boxes, but the current plan will expand the requirement to all 500 new and existing Heath businesses not open 24 hours a day.

Firefighters open the box with a key, then retrieve the key to the business from inside the box. Lohr maintains the procedure violates his Fourth Amendment protections against illegal search and seizure.

“Forced entry to a premise during an emergency creates a risk to firefighters by subjecting them to the hazards associated with broken glass, splintered wood and the unknowns of entering a structure at a point other than one designed specifically for entrance,” the fire chief’s attorney, Jonathan Diernbach, said in the court filing.

The department does not need a key to gain entry and requiring a key box violates a business owner’s property rights, Lohr’s attorney, Dawn Manley, said in her Monday response to Diernbach’s argument.

“Due process does not allow the application of the key box provision to a pre-existing building which is not an immediate nuisance or safety threat,” Manley said.

Fire department officials, Manley said, said in the BBA hearing they could use the key to enter the business when there is not an obvious fire or threat to a person.

Diernbach disputed Manley’s interpretation of testimony from the hearing.

“Evidence heard by the BBA in this matter clearly indicated that the key box would only be used by firefighting personnel in the case of an emergency occurring at NAE property and would not be used for any other purpose.”

Lohr has said in case of fire, he prefers firefighters “break the door and do your job.”

Newark Auto Electric has been in business for 20 years without a single call to the fire department, Manley said.

“The likelihood of a structural fire at any one location is low, the likelihood of a firefighter getting injured is even lower, and the likelihood of firefighter injury from forced entry is minuscule,” Manley writes.

I'm not sure that the fire department has done a good job of explaining the process and protocol that most agencies have to go through to be able to access the knox box key to obtain entry.

It's not as though they just pull a key off a key-ring in most cases. Our agency must request an access tone from our fire alarms office. This tone opens the lock box on the fire apparatus; the activity is logged. When the fire fighter returns the key to the compartment in the engine, that activity is logged and the compartment becomes locked.

There is no reason for fire personnel to access a building other than during an emergency or in the event of an alarm or suspected problem. Does this business owner want the firefighters to create hundreds (or thousands) of dollars of damage to a property because of an alarm drop? What if there is no problem inside? How can they determine that it is indeed a real fire or simply an alarm if they can't get inside? Is it worth the damages to determine that nothing is, indeed, wrong?

Bill Toohey, chief spokesman for Balto. Co. police, to be replaced

Ex-journalist to be replaced by sworn officer, as some other departments have done

Bill Toohey (Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

By Nick Madigan and Peter Hermann Baltimore Sun reporters

8:50 p.m. EST, November 18, 2009

Bill Toohey, the public face of the Baltimore County Police Department since 1996, has been dismissed and will be replaced by a uniformed officer.

Toohey, a 64-year-old civilian and former radio reporter, was informed of the decision Tuesday by Police Chief James W. Johnson, who expressed a preference for the department's front man to be a sworn member of the force. Employees of the county government, who declined to be named, said the decision took Toohey by surprise.

"There comes a time for people to move on and new people to move in," Toohey said Wednesday afternoon, reached by telephone. "That is what is happening here. I have great respect for the men and women of this agency. If I can help with the transition, I certainly will."

Toohey, who asked that reports of his departure not be made to sound "like an obituary," said the schedule for his successor's installation was uncertain, but that he would not be leaving until that happens.

"My understanding is that Bill is going to retire after a period of months," said Donald I. Mohler III, a spokesman for the county government, which made no mention of Toohey's dismissal in its online news releases Wednesday. Johnson did not respond to requests for comment.

Toohey's was one of the most recognizable voices to county residents accustomed to hearing him on television and radio recount the details of crimes and other incidents. He was probably the most quoted official in Baltimore County, his observations a daily staple of articles in this newspaper and elsewhere.

In a Baltimore Sun interview in October 2006, Toohey recalled a particularly memorable episode in his long career as the county's police spokesman, when officers were called upon to put an end to an extended crime spree by Joseph C. Palczynski in March 2000. After a 10-day manhunt, SWAT team members shot Palczynski to death in the living room of a Dundalk rowhouse, where he had been holding three hostages.

"During that whole time, everyone was a nervous wreck, and it was up to the police to try to maintain some sense of stability and control," said Toohey, whose face Palczynski had been watching on television in the rowhouse.

"People had to look at us and say, 'They're working on it. They're in control, and eventually it will be OK.' We had to convey a sense of confidence."

Toohey, who joined the department in March 1996, said a spokesman in the spotlight must remember his ultimate audience, particularly in a case as closely watched as the Palczynski episode. "When I was talking, I was not talking to the media. I was talking to the public. You can't express frustration with the reporters. People are watching, and they want to know what's going on."

Police departments in the Baltimore metropolitan area differ on their use of so-called public information officers. For some, a sworn spokesperson can more easily navigate police bureaucracies notorious for keeping information close to the vest, while others consider outsiders more able to bring fresh perspectives on police work and navigate the media world.

When Sheriff Jesse Bane took over the Harford County Sheriff's Department three years ago, he let the civilian spokesman go. He said he wanted a uniformed presence and has kept that spot filled with a staff officer.

In Baltimore, the police department has had civilians in charge of its public information unit for decades, but a staff of officers had the task of actually talking to the news media. Two of those officers had to resign from the force when commissioners promoted them to the top civilian post of chief spokesman.

One of those officers, Robert W. Weinhold, who became chief spokesman in the mid-1990s, was complimentary on Wednesday about Toohey's work.

"I've known Bill to be a very professional and articulate speaker who had the ability to take a very complex law enforcement matter and deliver it to the public in an understandable manner," he said.

That's a crucial talent because, Weinhold said, "The most important message is the message received."

Weinhold said civilian spokespeople help departments build trust in the community. For instance, he said, if a police officer does something controversial and a civilian explains the matter, it adds to the police's credibility in the community. "It's not just a quote, un-quote, coverup," he said.

City officials have chosen a wide variety of people to speak for police. Twice since the late 1990s, the department lured television reporters away from local channels, and twice promoted officers to the slot. The city job is far more perilous than in the suburbs, where police chiefs tend to rotate through frequently, with most choosing their own spokespeople.

"That's how I got my job, that's how I lost my job," said Matt Jablow, who in 2003 was hired away from a news reporting job for WBAL-TV to be the city police spokesman. Jablow said that joining the department as an outsider, especially after being a reporter, made it difficult at first to get information and earn trust within the department.

"It takes a while to be accepted by the cop on the street," Jablow said, noting that it benefits departments and chiefs to get advice from former reporters "who know what journalists need, when they need it and the form they need it in."

Maj. Andy Ellis, the chief spokesman of the Prince George's County Police Department, also replaced a civilian public information officer. He said the chief wanted an adviser who understood how the department worked and how cops think.

"So much of what our PIOs do is educate the public through reporters as to what our police officers do," Ellis said. "It is invaluable to have a police PIO who can explain police procedures."

But Ellis said it is a challenge to find police officers who can speak in front of the camera without lapsing into stunted language that might work over the police radio or in an incident report but leaves the public hard-pressed to decipher. "We got to get them out of police-speak," he said. "That's where our civilian PIOs excel. They can talk in a language people can understand."

Civilian spokesmen like Toohey are known for translating police jargon into real sentences that convey a trusted bridge to the public. Outsiders can also challenge police command in ways that officers, even ones at high ranks, cannot, enabling a department's leaders to get advice that might not otherwise be available.

Toohey did not hesitate to remind reporters that he had once been one of them. "I've had a lot of experience in radio news," he wrote on his open Facebook page, noting that he was National Public Radio's first New York correspondent in the early 1970s.

"I'm hoping one day that will make me an answer in Trivial Pursuit," he wrote. Toohey also worked as a radio writer and producer at NBC in New York in the mid-1970's, and it was at NBC that he met a newscaster named Rosemary Frisino, whom he subsequently married. She added Toohey to her name and became a successful playwright. They have four children, all in their 20s, including a daughter they adopted in the Philippines when she was 6.

Among his various jobs before landing in Towson, Toohey, a registered Democrat, served as press secretary for U.S. Senators Barbara Mikulksi and Paul Sarbanes.

He graduated from Essex Catholic High School in Newark, N.J., in 1963. He earned a bachelor's degree in English from Seton Hall University and a master's degree in mass communications from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, where he later taught journalism.

He is currently teaching a media ethics class at Towson University, and in the past has given classes there on the press and public opinion and on crisis communications. He said Wednesday that he intends to keep teaching, but that his other plans are up in the air.

Baltimore Sun reporter Mary Gail Hare contributed to this article.

Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun

I've talked with Bill at National Information Officer's Association gatherings for many years. He is a top-notch professional in everything that he does. I have always valued our conversations.

Bill is a guy that keeps up-to-date with technology, current events, and trends in reporting and public information. Baltimore will lose a very valuable asset with this decision.

There's nothing we love more than solutions—top-notch insights from top-of-the-line experts that help solve common marketing problems. Here's this week's solution, featuring SAS, which offers us a solution to the following problem: How does Marketing convince the CEO that it's time to embrace social media?

Expert: David B. Thomas, Social Media Manager, SAS

Dave has been active in social media since 1994, when he joined his first Internet forum. He is a key member of the Program Advisory Committee for MarketingProfs' B2B Forum scheduled for May 4-5, 2010 in Boston.

Problem: "Oh, Yeah? Tell That to My Boss!"

You know your company is being left behind because you don't have a social-media presence online. But you find your biggest obstacle is in-house: How do you convince your boss it's time to go social?

Solution

Dave offers the following crucial steps for initiating your organization's nonbelievers into the power of social media.

Show and tell. A great way to start making your case in-house is with a good old-fashioned Show and Tell. "For those of us who enjoy doing this stuff daily, it's easy to forget it can be confusing and daunting when you're getting started," Dave notes. "The first step in convincing your boss that social media is valuable for your company is to make it real for him or her."

Walk the walk. That means walking your boss and your team through the experience. Dave suggests you use yourself as an example. "Sit down with your boss and any other doubters in your organization and give them a focused, practical introduction on how you use social media," he advises. "Break the monolithic concept of 'social media' down into manageable chunks, and show them it's possible to participate without becoming overwhelmed."

Don't talk the talk too much. "Keep in mind that some of these social-media terms can sound pretty silly to older, more traditional people in your company," he cautions. "Don't baffle them with buzzwords—or worse, leave them laughing dismissively."

Make it real. Get down to specifics, based on your own social-media participation. "Show them the blogs you follow and what useful business information you glean from them. Show them how you use your RSS reader to cut through the noise and present what you most need in an easily digestible way," he says.

Don't forget the tweets. "Show them how you use Twitter (or better yet, tools like Tweetdeck) to mine valuable and timely information." And go to bat for it: "Dispel the misconception that people are doing nothing but talking about lunch on Twitter, and show your team the useful links, market information, and competitive intelligence you get there that's targeted to your business," he advises.

Crow a Little. "Have you had an interaction that led to a quantifiable business success?" Thomas asks. If so, he suggests you do a really cool thing to show it off: Capture it in a screen shot so they can see it right away. "This person asked a question, I answered it, it led to a sale (or positive mention of our company or valuable connection)." High five!

Remind them of what they're missing. Finally, if they're still doubting the value of social networks, "show them how many people are sharing information on LinkedIn and Facebook that directly relates to your company," Dave advises.

Then add the kicker. "Every day, your customers and potential customers are posting information about their wants and needs, their plans and concerns, and what's keeping them up at night," Thomas says. "This is the kind of information you used to pay to get from market researchers and focus groups, and now it's freely and publicly offered, if you just take the time to look for it," he concludes.

- It can be a tremendous challenge to bring companies and organizations on-line with these tools. I can only imagine how our predecessors felt trying to convince their policy-makers to start promoting their products on the radio or to purchase advertising on that television-thing.

In local government we tend to have to get around the fear that "people will get into our server and give us viruses." It has been interesting watching the shift in thinking as it slowly moves forward.