As Wilmington University alumnus Rick Goodale stepped into his new job as public information officer (PIO) of the Gastonia, North Carolina, Police Department last summer, he was well aware of the challenges facing him.
Goodale had just retired from the Mont-gomery County, Maryland, Police Department, where he served 27 years, the last five as the department’s PIO. The most populous county in Maryland, Montgomery is adjacent to Washington D.C., so Goodale gained a wealth of street experience and expertise in dealing with the public.
Located 10 miles from Charlotte, Gastonia is a bustling city of about 80,000 and it’s part of a large media market. The PIO is a civilian position, and Goodale is responsible for sharing information with the public about other city agencies.
Perhaps his major challenge is combating what he calls “the anti-police narrative” that has occurred across the country.
“So often, the only news you hear about police are negative stories,” he says. “Very rarely does the great work that men and women in law enforcement do on a daily basis make the news. My job is to highlight those stories about the Gastonia Police Department.
“We know there will be incidents that will not be beneficial to police officers, and what happens to one agency — think Minneapolis PD and George Floyd — affects police officers all across the country.”
He won’t rely totally on conventional media outlets, but will use the department’s social media to tell its stories.
We will put out all stories — good and bad — and hope the good stories act like a bank deposit.”
“If you put enough deposits in the bank, knowing that at some point you will have to make a withdrawal when a negative story happens, we will have made enough deposits so that we don’t go in the red — losing the community’s trust.”
Goodale always had his eye on a career in law enforcement. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1988 and served in the Security Police field. After mustering out in 1992, he lived with his parents in Seaford, Delaware, and enrolled in Criminal Justice classes at the Georgetown Campus of what was then Wilmington College.
After a short stint as a seasonal police officer in Ocean City, Maryland, he joined the Montgomery County Police in 1994. He continued to take online courses intermittently at WilmU, finally receiving his degree in May last year. Two months later, he moved to North Carolina.
“Online classes were a godsend for me because I probably would have never had the time to attend in-person classes with my work schedule of nights and weekends,” he says. “I thoroughly enjoyed my WilmU experience.”
He views the Gastonia area as an ideal place to eventually retire. “I’ve been coming to this area on vacations since 2015. I love it down here, especially the weather so far,” he says. “I’m an avid golfer and I love all outdoor activities here.”
He plans to pursue a master’s in Communications or a digital-related field.
“I love the job of a PIO,” he says. “You’re in the middle of all the inner workings of your agency and you get to be the public face and voice of your agency. I run the department’s social media pages, I interact with the community and local media on a daily basis, and I also create video content for the department and write press releases.
“I would highly recommend to anyone who has an interest in public relations/media work to consider a career as a public safety PIO.”
—Bob Yearick