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- Southlake Department of Public Safety
Saturday, September 23, 2023
The Southlake Departments of Safety received the 2022 Silver Circle Award from the City-County Communications and Marketing Association (3CMA) for their video on emergency preparedness. The national award was presented at the 3CMA Annual Conference in September 2022.
This year’s theme, “Blazing a New Trail: Exploring the Communication Landscape,” was inspired by challenges communities have faced over the past two years, as well as utilizing new routes for communicating, educating, and informing them.
The video, “Prepare Right Now for Your Home,” was part of a severe weather awareness campaign. It was designed to capture people’s attention and empower them to help spread the word about emergency preparedness and knowing what to do when a storm hits.
As emergency management staff rocked out to a parody of the 1980s rock band duo Heart’s song “Alone,” they informed citizens about safety and preparedness.
“With the Facebook audience primarily being 35-44 years old and nostalgic of the ‘good ole days, the idea to create emergency management videos in the style of 80s rock bands was formed,” Southlake DPS Public Information Officer, Brad Uptmore said.
The video became an instant hit! Within two weeks, it had over 63,000 views and was featured on local newscasts. It also caught the eye of the legends themselves, Ann and Nancy Wilson.
Judges praised the video and the way creators were able to take a “typical emergency management preparedness message and completely own it and make it relevant for their audience.” They also commended the team on the graphics, creative use of song lyrics, and overall campaign.
As part of the video, Fire Chief Michael Starr also made his rock and roll debut. He believes the message of safety and preparedness reached a wide audience.
He stated, “We serve the citizens of Southlake, but this video was broad enough to reach everyone, no matter where they live.”
The national 3CMA Savvy awards utilize judges from across the United States and recognize outstanding local government achievements in communications, public-sector marketing, citizen-government relationships, and salute skilled and effective city, county, agency, and district professionals who have creatively planned and carried out successful innovations in communications and marketing.
For more information on how you can prepare for emergencies, visit the Office of Emergency Management’s, “Get Prepared” page.
Watch the award-winning video below:
This year, Southlake DPS redirected their Summer Camp Mania fire safety in the kitchen lessons into a coloring contest.
Contests were presented to camp groups over two different weeks.
The theme, “Serve Up Fire Safety in the Kitchen,” is inspired by the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) 2020 campaign. The theme was required to appear prominently within the poster and had to depict safety behavior and procedures.
The judges were the Fire Marshal’s Office and camp staff. First, second and third place were awarded for each division and all participants received a ribbon and a Southlake Fire string bag.
All winning posters are on display in the Southlake Library.
Contest Winners
Division I – Ages 5 – 7
Division II – Ages 8 – 10
Division III – Ages 11 – 12
In 2018, over 6 million volunteers in the state of Texas contributed over 563 million hours of service, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service. Because of volunteers, organizations are able to see success in their initiatives by connecting generous participants with programs in need of resources and community involvement.
The City of Southlake is no exception. Our volunteers are a key resource to help make Southlake possible together.
Volunteering with the City isn’t always a few hours here and there. Southlake Department of Public Safety volunteers remain committed throughout the year to provide extra resources to the City.
During 2019, around 40 DPS volunteers completed over 3,600 hours of service to help make Southlake a better place. The devotion of the volunteers hasn’t gone unnoticed.
DPS volunteers are required to complete the Fire and Police Citizens Academy and maintain a commitment to be on call as needs arise. The academy is a one evening per week course that lasts 10 weeks and provides volunteers a working knowledge of the police and fire departments.
“Our volunteers are the best and we owe a lot of our success to them,” DPS Community Initiatives Coordinator Valerie Snyder said. “Because of them, our teams are able to achieve the highest standards for fire and police.
DPS volunteers provide citizen on patrol ride outs, event support and serve on the fire rehab team, making sure the fire team’s physical condition is maintained during an emergency or drill.
“Our volunteers are dedicated and take pride in giving back to their community,” Fire Prevention Officer Renni Burt said. “Together we are able to accomplish our goal to protect Southlake.”
For more information about volunteering, visit www.volunteersouthlake.com.
Over the last six months, 13 Public Safety employees have participated in our third DPS Leadership Academy. The Leadership Academy was developed as a way to bring members of both the Fire and Police departments together to strengthen their skills as leaders. Its purpose is to develop quality leadership and management, manage our organizational philosophy, culture and values, and build organizational capacity. The program included both internal and external experts who spoke on the topics of Pride and Ownership, Critical Thinking & Decision Making, Leadership & Communication Styles, Generational Differences, Employee Relations, and Southlake’s Strategy. This program was originally made possible by a very generous anonymous donation facilitated through SDCA.
On April 26, 2017 the City celebrated the graduation of the program participants listed below. At the graduation ceremony, each participant spoke about what they learned from the program and how they will use it to become a better leader. The program was very successful and we look forward to offering it again in the future.
Robert Briggs, Police Corporal
Officer Joshua Ellis, Police Officer
Officer Delaney Green, Police Officer
Cpl Preston Logan, Police Corporal
Cpl Christopher Melton, Police Corporal
Officer Thomas Roberson, Police Officer
Officer Weston Wood, Police Officer
Joshua Bors, Fire Engineer
Ricky Davis, Fire Lieutenant
Jimmy Elliott, Fire Engineer
Daniel Massengale, Fire Engineer
Robert McCallion, Fire Engineer
Brent Nobile, Fire Engineer
Congratulations to all the participants!