Tell us about your organization. How big is your team? Where are you based? What is your organization’s specialty in the film and video space?
We are a city police department in Florida with a two-person team handling both our internal and external media.
I am the sole producer and editor for our main series, including Traffic Tuesday, BTS, It’s a Bad Day to Be a Bad Guy, and Ground Game. I also lead and produce any other media projects that are needed throughout the department.
Everything is done in house. I film, produce, and edit all of our content from start to finish.
Our focus is creating cinematic police content in both short form and long form. We use that content to showcase the work our officers are doing in the community, highlight our specialty units, recognize the men and women who serve our city, and create educational content focused on safety and public awareness.
The goal is to give people a real look at what our department does and the people behind the badge.
Why do you do what you do? Was there a transformative moment that solidified your career choice, your org’s success, or your commitment to storytelling?
The reason we produce the content the way we do, and why we try to make it cinematic, really comes down to three things.
- We want to grab people’s attention.
- We want to educate the public.
- We want to show off the hard work that the men and women of our police department are doing every single day.
What we started to notice over time was that it was having a much bigger impact than we originally expected. We saw a change in the way our community was talking about our officers. We also saw a change internally. Morale started to go up because officers were proud to see the work they were doing actually being shown to the public.
We were able to show people that our officers are proactive, that they respond quickly, and that they handle situations fairly and respectfully.
One of the biggest things for us was showing our community that we were actually listening to them.
The city has a system where residents can submit complaints and concerns. It can be anything from a traffic light that is out, to a pothole, to a public safety issue that the police department can address. A lot of the complaints we get involve traffic. People complain about speeding, reckless driving, unsafe intersections, and other issues in their neighborhoods.
Before social media, somebody could make that complaint and maybe never really know what happened after that. Now we are able to show them. If residents are complaining about speeding in a certain area, we can show our officers out there doing traffic enforcement in that area and actually addressing the complaint. That is a huge difference.
They are not just being told that we are listening. They can actually see the work being done. Then we had a moment that really showed me that this was working.
The city hires an outside company to survey residents from different parts of Fort Lauderdale. During one of those meetings, they showed us that public safety had increased by more than 35 percent.
Residents said they felt safer. They said they felt heard. They said the police department was more transparent than ever before.
And one of the things they kept pointing back to was our social media. That was a huge moment for me because it showed that what we had set out to do was actually working. At that point, it was not about views anymore. It was not about likes or followers. It was about showing people the work that was being done, giving them a better understanding of their police department, and building trust with the community.
That is when I realized that this was bigger than just making content.
Tell us about your Telly Award winning piece. What’s the story behind it?
Our award winning series, Traffic Tuesday, features our officers conducting traffic stops for different violations, whether it is speeding, reckless driving, running stop signs, red lights, or other unsafe driving behaviors. When we created the series, we had a few goals in mind.
One was to show the professionalism of our officers during these everyday interactions. Another was to show the public the work that is actually being done throughout the city. But one of the biggest parts of the series is showing our residents that we are listening to them.
Our city has a system that allows residents to submit complaints and concerns. Those complaints can be anything from an issue at a local park that goes to Parks and Recreation, to a public safety issue that comes to the police department.
A large number of the complaints we receive involve traffic. Residents will tell us that people are speeding through their neighborhood, ignoring stop signs, running red lights, or driving dangerously in a certain area. Our traffic unit is already out monitoring different areas throughout the city, but now we can take those complaints and use our content to show officers working in the exact areas our residents are concerned about.
So if someone complains about speeding in their neighborhood, we can show our traffic unit out there conducting enforcement. If residents are complaining about people running a certain stop sign, we can show that officers are actually out there addressing it.
That creates transparency. Instead of somebody submitting a complaint and never knowing what happened with it, they can actually see that we heard them and that something is being done.
The series has also become incredibly popular in our city. People recognize the officers who are featured in it, and some of them have basically become mini celebrities around town. We have even had people recognize them in other parts of the country.
When we are out filming, people will recognize the crew, come over, say hello, and tell us that they watch the series. A lot of them will also tell us that they appreciate seeing what our officers are actually doing.
That has been one of the coolest parts of it for us because it shows that people are not just watching the content. They are connecting with the officers and with the department.
For us, Traffic Tuesday became more than just a series about traffic stops. It became another way for us to show our community that we are listening, that we are responding, and that there are real people behind the badge doing the work every day.
Can you share a behind the scenes story or fun fact about the making of your piece?
One of my favorite behind-the-scenes moments happened while we were out filming Traffic Tuesday. We were just doing our normal thing when a guy walking down the street stopped, turned around, came back through our frame, and asked, “Is this Traffic Tuesday?”
When we told him yes, he got really excited and said he watched it all the time. He even told us he always thought it was staged, so seeing us actually out there filming real traffic enforcement made it even cooler for him.
Another fun fact is that one of the officers featured heavily in the series has basically become a mini celebrity. He was actually recognized at an airport by someone who was not even from Fort Lauderdale. The guy walked up to him and said, “Aren’t you that cop from Traffic Tuesday? I love that show.”
Those moments are always really cool because you realize people are not just watching the content. They actually remember the officer and connect with what we are putting out.
What was your biggest challenge during production and how did you solve it?
One of our biggest production challenges is that everything happens in real life. Nothing is staged. There are no retakes. Whatever happens is happening live right in front of us, and we never really know what is going to happen next. The advantage I have is that I have been a police officer for 13 years, so I understand the process and I understand what is happening around me.
That experience allows me to adapt quickly. I can usually think ahead to what an officer may be getting ready to do, how a traffic stop or an arrest may progress, or even what a subject might be thinking or preparing to do. Understanding how these situations normally play out gives me an advantage when I am out there filming. It helps me anticipate what is coming next, get into the right position, and capture the shot before the moment happens instead of reacting after it is already over.
That is probably one of the most unique parts of producing this kind of content. I am documenting what is happening, but I am still a police officer first, and sometimes those two roles overlap in real time.
What are you most proud of about this piece? What is the most memorable response you got from this work?
I think one of the things I am most proud of is the reaction we get from both our officers and the public. Traffic Tuesday has really become something people expect and look forward to every week. I get text messages asking, “When is it going up?” “Where is it?” “Who is it going to be this week?”
People are genuinely excited to watch it.
We have even had people in the community tell us that they get together at work and watch it after it gets posted. In the comments, people will say they look forward to it every Tuesday, or they will recognize one of the officers and say they saw them out working somewhere in the city. That support has been really cool to watch grow.
Internally, I think one of the moments that meant the most to me came from someone on our command staff who was one of the strongest opponents of using social media as an outreach tool.
One day, he came up to me and said, “Hey, I really like what you’re doing. I appreciate how you’re showing the department, and I’m proud of what you’re doing to highlight our officers actually doing police work.” That really stuck with me.
When someone who was originally against the idea comes around and sees the value in it, that tells me we are doing something right. For me, the proudest part is not really the views or the numbers. It is seeing our officers proud of how they are being represented, seeing the community excited to watch, and knowing that the content has helped change the way people inside and outside the department look at what we do.
You won a Telly Award for this piece. Why is recognition important for you, your team or your work?
Winning a Telly Award really meant a lot to me because it helped validate what we were doing.
We knew the content was connecting with our community, but being recognized on that level showed us that the work also stood up from a production standpoint.
You are competing against established shows, producers, agencies, and creators from all over the world, and the work is being judged by people who have experience throughout the film and production industry.
To have people at that level look at something we created in house, with a very small team, and say that it was worthy of recognition was a really cool feeling.
For me, it helped solidify that we were not just making good police department content. We were producing work that could compete at a much higher level.
It was one of those moments where you realize that maybe what you are building is actually something pretty special.
