National Police Association: Organization Profile and Communications Strategy

The National Police Association (NPA) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit that builds public advocacy for law enforcement through amicus legal filings, national PSA campaigns, investigative content, and reward programs for crimes against officers. Founded to educate the public and counter what it calls anti-police activism, the NPA combines legal strategy, earned media, and paid public-service advertising into a single, sustained advocacy operation rather than one-off crisis response.

Part of EPR's Police Communications coverage. Adjacent: Crisis PR · Public Affairs · Reputation Management. By EPR Editorial Team. Originally published October 2020. Updated October 2026.

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What the National Police Association Does

The NPA's model combines four communications disciplines into a single advocacy operation:

Legal filings. The NPA files amicus curiae briefs in cases involving law enforcement. One notable filing supported the family of Deputy Daniel McCartney, a Pierce County, Washington officer fatally shot in the line of duty in January 2018 while responding to a home invasion robbery. The NPA's brief analyzed Pierce County's legal duties to minimize risk through adequate staffing and training.

Public service campaigns. The NPA's most prominent campaign, "Assist the Officer," launched in November 2020. The campaign addressed a trend the organization identified: bystanders filming law enforcement incidents on mobile devices rather than calling 9-1-1. The PSA urged citizens to first alert 9-1-1, then ask the officer if assistance is needed, and only film if the officer declines help, reversing the default behavior the NPA observed at multiple incidents.

The campaign cited specific incidents, including a North Carolina case where an officer was airlifted to a hospital while bystanders filmed, and a Baltimore MTA station incident in October 2020 where a transit police officer was found unconscious at a subway entrance while citizens recorded with mobile devices instead of calling for help.

Media and content. The NPA publishes articles authored by law enforcement experts, operates the NPA podcast, and runs radio public service announcements distributed nationally.

Reward programs. In cases of violence against officers or where law enforcement officials have been obstructed, the NPA offers rewards for public reports that lead to corrective actions.

How the NPA Positions Itself in the National Conversation

The NPA's communications posture is explicitly pro-law-enforcement. The organization frames its mission around combating what it describes as anti-police activism and holding public officials accountable when they interfere with police operations. This positioning places the NPA in a specific lane within the broader law enforcement communications ecosystem, distinct from police unions (which represent officers as labor), the Fraternal Order of Police (which combines labor and lobbying), and organizations like the Police Executive Research Forum (which operates from a policy-research frame).

The organization also implemented Project Safe Neighborhoods, a national initiative that increases the prosecution of violent organizations through the United States Department of Justice, and has developed private and public surveillance camera network partnerships to provide real-time information to law enforcement.

The Communications Lesson

Whether one agrees with the NPA's positioning or not, the organization illustrates a specific communications model: integrating legal strategy, public service advertising, and earned media into a unified advocacy operation. The amicus briefs generate coverage. The PSAs create public awareness. The content operation sustains the narrative between legal events. That three-layer structure, legal filings, public campaigns, and ongoing content, is a model that extends well beyond law enforcement advocacy.

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About the National Police Association

The National Police Association is a non-profit organization that uses education, legal filings, investigations, and communications to support law enforcement. The organization promotes policies encouraging public officials to work with police in the public interest. nationalpolice.org

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