“Don’t Be Afraid” Campaign Shows Language Not a Barrier to 9-1-1

[Howard Hartman]

“Don’t Be Afraid” Campaign Shows Language Not a Barrier to 9-1-1

Comcast & Montgomery, Prince George’s Police work to eliminate fear of reporting crime

Montgomery County, Md. – April 7, 2008 – Continuing a joint commitment to keeping their local communities safe, Comcast and the Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties Police Departments have announced Don’t Be Afraid, a bi-county campaign assuring speakers of other languages that emergency services can and will help those who seek assistance. The Don’t Be Afraid campaign features the airing of two Public Service Announcements (PSA) and two five-minute interview segments with each county’s chief of police at a value of more than $400,000 in air-time.

Chief J. Thomas Manger, MCPD, and Chief Melvin C. High, PGPD, were invited to Comcast’s local studios to tape five-minute Comcast Newsmakers interview segments explaining the campaign’s role in ensuring the safety of the counties’ non-English or limited English speaking residents. Each chief’s interview will air on CNN Headline News in his respective county beginning today and will run through the next two weeks. The PSAs produced for the campaign display the “911” emergency number on-screen at all times, as well as the word “HELP” translated into the seven most commonly-spoken languages in the counties including Spanish, French, Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese and Russian. Taped in both English and Spanish, the PSAs will run cross-channel on Comcast Cable in both counties through the end of August 2008.

"It is Comcast's goal to make all members of our community feel valued and safe," said Sanford Ames, Jr., area vice president of Comcast's Tri-County Area. "We're proud to partner with both the Montgomery and Prince George's Counties Police Departments to publicize the availability of 911-call translation services and to eliminate the ethnic community's fear of reporting crime.”

Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said, “We are very grateful to Comcast for its commitment in helping us get this critically important message out to the community. Montgomery County has a culturally diverse population and we want to make sure that our community members who don’t speak English as a first language know, that through our translation services, when they need our help they can call 911 and be understood.”

Don’t Be Afraid is fourth in a series of public safety campaigns in which Comcast has invested its energy. Previous campaigns included Drive, Think, Live, a program sponsored in Montgomery County promoting driver safety among young people; as well as Pedestrian Safety, a DC Metro area campaign focused on promoting the use of crosswalks and safe driving tactics in heavily populated areas. Crossing Guards, the third in the series, highlighted school crossing guards and the work they do to keep our communities’ children safe.