Police Beat: The Emotional Power of Music in Police Work By Simon ...

The barometric quality that the press assigned the police band was recognized by the Commissioner of Police, Brigadier McKinna, who, in 1957, made it a ‘branch’ of the police department for the purposes of public relations (Lawler, 1994, p. 136). From 1958, when it was made a full-time unit, the band’s public relations duties, which consisted of the giving of performances for members of the community in various contexts, such as at fairs and other community events, and in public access concerts, increased until community liaison activities overtook the original police/government ceremonial duties of the band. This remains the case in the present day; while the band members continue to perform at police and state funerals, academy graduations, police balls and functions, as well as at various state and federal functions, events and parades, the bulk of their work is focused on public relations activities for the department, on community policing activities and on musical entertainment of various styles for paying corporate and private groups. The capacity of the police band to cast both flattering (and, at times in its history, unflattering) light on the larger department, first recognized by Commissioner McKinna in 1957, has been more fully developed by the department in the present day. As a result, the band is currently primarily deployed as a public relations unit, and it is the hope of the department that community members will form positive opinions about the police department when it is presented to them via the police band.