2025 Crisis and Strategic Communications Conference

Ian Arundale QPM is a former Chief Constable and senior law enforcement leader with over 35 years operational policing experience in the United Kingdom. Currently serving as a Chief Officer with Dyfed Powys Police focused on misconduct matters, he also provides expert consultancy on law enforcement policy, decision-making, and the management of critical incidents, particularly police involved shootings. He also currently sits on Discipline Panels for senior lawyers (Barristers and Kings Counsel).

Throughout his distinguished career, Ian held senior leadership roles in three UK police forces and played a pivotal role in shaping national policy. He notably served as the national lead for Armed Policing and Conflict Management on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) advising 54 law enforcement organisations. In this capacity, he was instrumental in developing and implementing the UK’s first Code of Practice on Police Use of Firearms and Less Lethal Weapons and later oversaw the transition to the Authorised Professional Practice (APP) framework. He introduced several less lethal options into UK policing and has advised law enforcement organisations worldwide.

Ian has commanded hundreds of major operations including counter-terrorism deployments and high-risk armed incidents. He has also acted as an expert advisor to the UK government, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, and multiple public inquiries, inquests and courts over the last twenty years.

His academic credentials include a BA in Police Studies, an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice, and postgraduate Applied Criminology studies at Cambridge University. He is a Fulbright Scholar and a graduate of the UK Prime Minister’s Top Management Programme. He has lectured internationally and has contributed to law enforcement development across many jurisdictions.

Following retirement as a Chief Constable, Ian has continued to influence policing practices through expert witness and consultancy work in high-profile cases, including the Raoul Moat, Jermaine Baker and Anthony Grainger incidents in the UK.

In 2011, Ian was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for his contributions to UK policing with specific reference to his work on armed policing and conflict management. He remains an active and influential voice in advancing professional standards and accountability in policing. 

About the Session

Drawing on well-documented cases, Chief Constable Arundale will provide Canadian police leaders, governance officials, and policymakers with a candid exploration of the lessons, challenges, and enduring questions that emerged in the U.K. He will highlight how communities, the media, and the judiciary have shaped the national conversation on police use of lethal force—and what Canadian policing and oversight bodies can take away from this experience.

Conference participants will gain valuable insights into the issues that must be carefully managed before, during, and after critical incidents. From public perception and political scrutiny to judicial review and organizational accountability, Chief Constable Arundale will share hard-earned lessons that underscore both the risks and opportunities for police services and governments alike. His keynote will provide a timely reminder of the importance of transparency, preparation, and foresight in navigating the aftermath of contentious use-of-force incidents.

Chief Fraser began his career in policing in Vancouver in 1991 and joined the Brockville police in 1998. In his 23 years there, Fraser served as breathalyzer technician, mountain bike officer, intelligence/drug officer, Sergeant in charge of Criminal Investigations and Inspector in charge of Operations and Support Services, before becoming Chief of Police. He has lectured at the Canadian Police College and served as syndicate leader within the Canadian Police College Drug Investigative Techniques Program numerous times.

Fraser joined the Kingston Police Force on October 4, 2021, as Deputy Chief and was appointed Acting Chief on January 1, 2023.

Fraser, 53, from Carleton Place, Ontario holds a diploma in Police Foundations from Sir Sandford Fleming College, a certificate in Police Administration from Dalhousie University, and a certificate in Criminal Justice Education from the University of Virginia. In June 2006, Fraser attended the 226th session of the FBI National Academy at Quantico, Virginia, the only Canadian among 250 attendees for the 10-week course.

Fraser has been awarded the Police Exemplary Service Medal, a medal issued under the Canadian Honours System to recognize loyal and exemplary service to law enforcement. He is also the recipient of the Colin T. Millar Award for sustained commitment to leadership, innovation, and community service in Canada and the Chief Edward F. Moore Award for Integrity, Ethics, and Professionalism in Law Enforcement from the New York/Eastern Canada Chapter of the FBI National Academy Associates.

Scott has been married for 27 years to Katie and has two children, Karling and Zachary, both of whom are police officers.

Constable Colangeli is currently in his 17^th year of policing, all with the Kingston Police. With 9 years in Patrol as a Constable and Coach Officer. He has also served 3 years as a Detective in the Joint Forces Penitentiary Squad (OPP Secondment). The remainder of the time has been spent in the CORE Unit as an Urban Foot Patrol Officer and Media Relations Officer.

About the Session

On January 3, 2025, CrowdStrike monitoring software detected an unusually high volume of data leaving the Kingston Police Service’s network—traffic that included sensitive information from partner agencies and accessed through the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC). What began as a technical alert quickly escalated into a full-scale cyber crisis.

In response, Kingston Police took immediate action: shutting down affected systems, deploying third-party cybersecurity experts, and calling in the Ontario Provincial Police Cybercrime Investigations Team. The Information and Privacy Commissioner was also notified, and strict protocols were followed to balance transparency with investigative and security requirements.

For police organizations, whose daily operations depend on interconnected, high-stakes systems, such an incident is more than an IT problem—it is a profound challenge to public trust, transparency, and the uninterrupted delivery of critical services. The Kingston experience underscores how maintaining community safety in the face of a cyberattack requires rapid response, careful communication, and resilience under pressure.

In this candid and insightful presentation, Chief Scott Fraser and Media Officer Constable Anthony Colangell will share their first-hand experiences managing the crisis. Attendees will gain practical lessons in leadership, crisis communications, and organizational preparedness that every police leader and communicator can apply to strengthen their own agencies against future cyber threats.

Sergeant Steve Addison joined the Vancouver Police Department in 2006, following an award-winning career in B.C.’s community newspaper industry. Steve spent the first part of his policing career working as a beat officer in Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside, drawing on his media background to bring attention to the challenges facing police in the troubled neighbourhood. This included a recurring role in The Beat – an eight-part reality series that documented VPD’s work in the Downtown Eastside.

Sergeant Addison joined the Vancouver Police Department’s Public Affairs team as a spokesperson in 2019, and he currently oversees VPD’s strategic communications and issues management. Drawing on 25 years of journalism, communications, and policing experience, Steve has steered VPD’s communications strategy through some of biggest events and issues of the past decade – COVID-19, defund-the-police, the 2022 heat dome crisis, tent-city decampments, and a series of unprovoked stranger attacks that caused widespread fear throughout Vancouver. All of these issues paled compared to the communications challenges VPD faced in the aftermath of the April 2025 vehicle attack that killed 11 people and injured dozens more at the Filipino Lapu Lapu Festival.

About the Session

When a crisis strikes, the way information is managed can determine whether public confidence is strengthened or eroded. In this session, Sergeant Steve Addison will walk through the Vancouver Police Department’s media response to the 2025 attack on the Lapu-Lapu Festival. Using this high-profile case study, he will illustrate how strategic communications are essential at every stage of a crisis—preparing in advance, managing the immediate flow of information as events unfold, sustaining public trust during the aftermath, and guiding long-term recovery. Attendees will gain practical and powerful insights into balancing accuracy, transparency, and timeliness while maintaining credibility in the face of fast-moving and high-stakes events.

Cherri Greeno began her career as a journalist after graduating the Master of Arts (Journalism) degree program at the University of Western Ontario in 1999. During her career, she travelled throughout the world covering a variety of stories, and was the recipient of two National Newspaper Awards for excellence in journalism. In 2016, she joined the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) and is currently the Service’s Director of Corporate Affairs. She also serves as Past-Chair for the Ontario Corporate Communications Network (CCN), Vice-Chair of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) Strategic Communications Network, and is a Canadian representative for the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Public Information Officers committee.  

In 2021, Cherri was awarded the Catherine Martin Award of Excellence in Media Relations from the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) and, in 2023, was awarded a provincial Heroes Beyond the Badge award on behalf of WRPS. She was also recently awarded a Mentor of the Year Award for her work with students at Conestoga College. Most recently, Cherri had her first children’s book – Mismatched Martha - published by New-York Based Austin Macauley Publishers. She currently resides in Kitchener with her husband, four daughters, and the cutest puppy ever. 

Speaker: Robin Matthews-Osmond, Corporate Communications Manager, Brantford Police Service

Robin Matthews-Osmond is the Corporate Communications Manager for the Brantford Police Service and Co-Chair of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police Corporate Communications Network. With more than 15 years of progressive experience in public sector leadership, crisis communications, and issues management, she is recognized as a leader in advancing modern, transparent, and strategic police communications in Ontario.

In her role with the Brantford Police Service, Robin is a member of the Senior Leadership Team, responsible for communications strategies that enhance public trust and support organizational priorities. She has led key initiatives including the Service’s rebranding and website redevelopment. 

At the provincial level, Robin also serves as Vice-Chair of the Ontario Media Relations Officers Network, where she mentors professionals, delivers media relations training, and promotes collaboration across police services. Her work reflects a deep commitment to innovation, knowledge-sharing, and elevating the practice of crisis and corporate communications in law enforcement.

Speaker: Sergeant Sandasha Bough, Corporate Communications and Media Relations, London Police Service

Currently serving as the Sergeant in the Corporate Communications and Media Relations Unit with the London Police Service, Sandasha Bough has been a dedicated member of the LPS since she began her career as a constable in the Uniformed Division in June 2000. Over the years, she has contributed to various areas, including the Traffic Management Unit, CID – Fraud, the Police Reporting Centre, and Court Services. Notably, she also served as a School Safety officer for five years before transitioning to the media officer role in 2015.

Sgt. Bough has played a pivotal role in training numerous new media relations officers throughout Ontario and beyond, routinely offering guidance and training through the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) Corporate Communications Network (CCN). Currently, she chairs the OACP CCN Community of Practice and previously served as the Vice-Chair of the OACP Ontario Media Relations Officer’s Network for two years. Additionally, she was an active member of the Social Media in Law Enforcement (SMILE) Conference Committee, an international team of sworn and civilian police professionals, for four years. Her hard work and dedication have been instrumental in shaping the London Police Service's reputation and in fostering positive relationships within the community and beyond. 

Niclas Hallgren, Assistant Police Director and deputy head of Police Region Bergslagen. A police officer since 1991 with a Master of Law and with an assignment to the Swedish Department of Justice. Niclas Hallgren has served as head of the operative unit in Police region Väst, the second largest region in Sweden. His experience apart from positions held as head of units comes from working as a police operation commander in several, both national and regional police interventions as well Police incident commander in the field. As such he has been responsible for communicating with both national and international media. 

Karin Linder, Communication Strategist at the Swedish Police Authority, Police Region Bergslagen, will take you back to February 4th—the day that changed Sweden forever. On this day, the most violent school attack in the nation’s history struck Campus Risbergska in Örebro. 

In her presentation, Karin will share the immense challenges of crisis communication—from the chaos and fear of the first hours to the long, intensive four-month investigation that followed. This investigation was driven by one urgent mission: to uncover the truth and provide answers that could support healing—not only for a grieving society, but for shattered families, the injured, and every individual affected by the tragedy. 

She will discuss how the communication team prioritized the victims’ families as the primary audience, working closely with family liaison officers to ensure clear, compassionate messaging. She will also describe how they maintained communication readiness in response to media coverage and ultimately prepared a highly coordinated and emotionally resonant presentation of the investigation’s findings—one that combined precision, sensitivity, and storytelling on a profound level.

The View from Sweden – The Evolution from a Few Gun-related Crimes to the Most Violent School Attack in the Nation’s History

Is Sweden a Nation Awash in a Gun Violence Crisis? Violent crime—particularly those involving firearms—has emerged as one of the most pressing issues dominating public debate in Canada. The central question remains: How safe are Canadians from violent crime? Yet Canada is not alone in facing this challenge. Similar debates are unfolding in many countries, including Scandinavian nations such as Sweden, where a long-standing reputation for safety is now under pressure.

In this compelling presentation, Deputy Head of Police Niclas Hallgren and Tommy Thorngren, Press Manager at the Swedish Police Authority, Police Region Stockholm, will examine how Sweden went from being a country with very few gun-related crimes to a nation where criminals increasingly use violence to conduct their business. This increase in the frequency and manner of violent crime is forcing the Swedish Police to make significant changes in the way they operate, both in relation to crime prevention and investigations of serious violent crimes. The pressure on police communicators is immense as the public, media, and politicians demanded an end to the violence. 

Adding a deeply human dimension, Karin Linder, Communication Strategist at the Swedish Police Authority, Police Region Bergslagen, will take you back to February 4, 2025—the day in which seven women and three men died in the most violent school attack in Sweden’s history. The mass shooting in Örebro presented immense challenges for police, from the chaos and fear of that day to the long and intensive four months that followed during the investigation. An investigation was carried out with one urgent goal: to uncover the answers that could make healing possible—not only for a grieving society, but for shattered families, the wounded, and every human being whose life was touched by this tragedy.

Together, these voices will provide conference participants with a rare inside look at how Sweden’s police leaders and communicators are confronting both the rise of violent crime and the profound demands of crisis response—lessons with powerful resonance for Canadian policing and beyond.

Speaker: Constable James Cadigan, Public Communications Officer, Royal Newfoundland Constabulary

Needless to say, as the sole police officer assigned to the RNC Public Communications Unit for almost seven years, James has gained significant experience with media relations, media events, public relations, critical incident communication, and organizational crisis communication, all within the scope of crisis and strategic communication. Most recently James participated in live streamed media briefing for the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador with Premier Hogan in response to catastrophic wildfires.

While serving as a police officer, James was elected to town council in Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove, a coastal community east of St. John’s, where he served for six years as Deputy Mayor. Always focused on supporting the community, James and his family members founded a charity called the Ron Cadigan Foundation in 2018, in honour of his father, which provides financial support for children to access sports and recreation. James also sits as President of a Senior ‘A’ hockey club. James has a heavy athletic background with many accomplishments on both a local and national scale.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) is Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial police service, responsible for safeguarding approximately 257,000 residents across three regions. Operating from the east coast of Canada—predominantly on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean—the RNC faces unique challenges in managing both crisis response and strategic communications.

In this compelling case study, Constable James Cadigan will examine a 2023 child abduction investigation that required careful consideration around the issuance of an Amber Alert. The case was marked by unusual complexities: a willing participant, multiple police agencies spanning jurisdictions, and coordination across two provinces.

This presentation will highlight the pivotal role of the Public Communication Officer in navigating competing demands—balancing the urgency of preserving life and public safety against the need to protect sensitive investigative information. Ultimately, it was the emergency alert itself that forced the suspects to confront the reality that their actions went far beyond “a favour for a friend.”

Through this case, conference participants will gain an inside look at the intricate decision-making and communication strategies that define modern policing, where transparency, timeliness, and tactical restraint can mean the difference between risk and resolution.

Speaker: Basia Radomski, Owner and Principal Consultant, SMRT Solution Consulting Inc.

With more than 20 years of experience in journalism, government communications, and high-stakes crisis management, Basia Radomski brings a unique blend of newsroom instincts and strategic leadership to crisis communications training. Beginning her career at CBC as a writer, producer, and journalist, she covered some of the country’s biggest news stories before moving into senior communications roles in municipal government. As designated Emergency Information Officer, she led all emergency communications during floods, ice storms, major fires, and the COVID-19 pandemic, serving as spokesperson, advising political and senior leaders, and coordinating messaging with provincial and federal agencies. Her expertise includes media training for elected officials, proactive reputation protection, and strategic audience engagement rooted in the principles established by the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). In the private sector, at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada, she supported the firm’s leadership through sensitive, high-profile crises, crafting strategies to protect brand integrity while maintaining clients’ trust. Basia’s pragmatic, no-nonsense approach helps leaders anticipate issues, respond under pressure, and communicate with clarity, empathy, and credibility, building public confidence.

Speaker: Bill McKee – Owner and Principal Consultant, SMRT Solution Consulting Inc.

Bill McKee is a highly regarded trainer, facilitator, and strategist who combines 25 years of frontline emergency services experience with deep expertise in emergency management, crisis leadership, and labour relations. As a former Acting Captain with Toronto Fire Services and an executive board member of the Toronto Professional Firefighters Association, he played a pivotal role in high-stakes negotiations, human rights matters, workplace investigations, and government relations. His advocacy work set a landmark 2014 WSIAT decision recognizing PTSD in firefighters. Bill’s experience extends to consulting with public-sector clients such as the TTC, Manitoba Health, and the Region of Peel on emergency response planning, business continuity, and leadership coaching. As a former incident commander and licensed paralegal, he brings a multidimensional lens to crisis scenarios, knowing how to respond quickly and effectively with tactical decisions, clear communications and how to pivot in real-time, balancing tactical decision-making and legislative requirements with communication clarity. Bill’s approach helps organizations under pressure align internally, act decisively, and communicate effectively to protect both people and reputation.

About the Session 

“Let’s get comfortable with being uncomfortable: managing public perception with effective crisis communications.” 

When a crisis strikes, there’s no pause button. In today’s world of citizen journalism, instant video and social media, police leaders must be ready to respond with confidence, clarity, and credibility to build public trust. Let’s Get Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable: Managing Public Perception with Effective Crisis Communications is a fast-paced workshop designed exclusively for police professionals, media teams and leaders, to test your skills, learn from past mistakes and build capacity for strategic, trust-building communications. Led by SMRT Solution Consulting Inc.’s seasoned facilitators, Basia Radomski and Bill McKee, this hands-on session blends real-world case studies with a high-pressure tabletop scenario. Participants will dissect a high-profile incident turned PR crisis, explore how communication choices shaped public perception, and apply instructor-led theory in a realistic, evolving crisis simulation designed to stress-test team dynamics, sharpen skills and ability to pivot to address a developing scenario. This workshop challenges teams to view communications through a public lens, honing their ability to lead with clear, timely, and transparent messaging that navigates scrutiny, counters misinformation, and strengthens both trust and reputation.