Dallas Officer Delays NFL Player as Relative Dies

It seems like you hear more and more about police officers making more and more mistakes in the line of duty. These people are suppose to our protectors and our “watchmen”, not the ones that hurt us. I was reading a story today about a Dallas, TX police officer Robert Powell that stopped Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats' in a local hospital parking lot for supposedly rolling through a red light. Moats exited the vehicle exclaiming that his mother in law was inside the hospital dying and that he had to get into the hospital immediately to be by her side.
Now I’m no police officer, but I am a compassionate person. Most people in this situation would find that letting this man hurry to the hospital room to spend time with his dying mother in law during her last few moments on earth. Officer Powell did exactly the opposite of what most people would do. Powell immediately became very controlling and pointed his firearm both at Moats and his wife as his wife left the vehicle and ran inside the hospital to be by her mother. There is nothing more that irritates me is when an officer pulls his weapon on someone that is obviously not carrying a weapon. Accidents happen all of the time with loaded weapons, and officers are not immune to such accidents.
This particular officer has had some issues in the past, giving the Dallas police department some bad PR. During his 3 years with the force officer Powell has received complaints and corrective action for violation of the department's sick leave policy and for failing to contact a supervisor. I think that the Dallas police force made a good decision on taking Moats’ side of this whole ordeal. "I think even someone who has never been through police training should know how to handle this incident. This is an area of common sense," Dallas police chief David Kunkle said. A good example public relations taking place in the police force.

Man flying is tested positive for Tuberculosis.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight from Frankfurt to Detroit has been diagnosed with tuberculosis. The passenger was on Flight 51 on March 10th to Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The 17 passengers sitting near the man on the plane have been contacted and advised to be tested for tuberculosis. This is just another PR dilemma for airlines around the world. Security checkpoints can only detect obvious threats. When the threat is microscopic, not much can be done to protect the health of fellow airliners.
What does a PR practitioner do to make a situation like this keep their airline in good light to the public? I have a feeling that the only way to keep our bacterial and viral enemies off of our flights is to make every passenger carry immunological records with them to show proof of being vaccinated for all common diseases. I have no idea how this would go over with the nearly 400 million people that took the air last year. I know I would be pretty upset if I had to renew my shot records just to fly to my destination.
The sad thing is that with the population of people in the world today, steps will soon have to be taken to make sure diseases do not spread throughout the world and kill millions.
There are tons of examples of animals coming and going to other countries and infecting those citizens with disease. Take the rat for example, it carried Black Plague and was transferred from Asia to Western Europe and North Africa killing an estimated 75 million people. Northwest Airlines PR reps will have their hands full if the people in the plane with the sick man all contract TB. Lets hope that no one else contracts the disease and some steps are taken to protect the health of all passengers.

Roxana Saberi, former Miss North Dakota, is being held in Iran for allegedly purchasing a box of wine. According the Iranian law, it is illegal to purchase or sell alcohol in the country. Roxana has lived in Iran for the past 6 years and I find it hard to believe that she did now know of this law before buying the alcohol, just like minors know that its illegal when they decide to drink alcohol. After this story had been released to the press and Iran was pressured for more information, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said she was detained for working as a journalist in that country after her press credentials had been revoked which happened in 2006. To me this just seems to be a case of getting into trouble for a small thing than the authorities find out about a bigger thing. Believe me, I have been in the situation!
I can understand the feelings of Roxana’s parents. Their daughter is being held in a prison of a foreign country. What parents wouldn’t be upset? Knowing the conditions of the Middle East right now with wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, any parent would be fearing for the safety of their child being held in a prison.
There are examples of multiple forms of public relations issues between the US and Iran. The United States has to be careful not to push the release of Roxana without her serving her sentence for any crimes she may have committed. If the US forces to release Roxana without her doing her time than the US may gain the image as a “big bully” that bails its citizens out of any international problem. Iran has made some bad PR mistakes for not providing Roxana’s family with all of the information pertaining to her arrest. Roxana’s family and the media do not have all of the facts pertaining to her arrest and are still in the dark to the condition of their daughter. Everyone hopes for Roxana’s good health and fair treatment. I feel that she should be responsible for any laws she may have broken. After all is said and done I hope she returns home safely and can leave this experience behind her.