The Social Media Beat

In the spirit of the season, from our home to yours, we bring you the IACP Center for Social Media holiday update. 2011 was a big year at the Center for Social Media. The Web site took off with many new publications and resources including the Chiefs’ Column. Our directory doubled in size and we added several new platform and technology overviews. Staff has also extended their outreach, providing training and technical assistance to more agencies than ever before. We hosted a spring webinar series and are now more than half way through our winter webinar series (you can sign up for the final installment here).   Through these social media efforts we have met some amazing professionals and created wonderful partnerships. We have added new bloggers to The Social Media Beat and are soon to be incorporating a guest blogger feature. We are excited for what 2012 is sure to offer. Our schedule is already taking us to some great places including several state associations (to request training or ...

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Tracy Phillips posed the question here a couple of weeks ago, “Would I be exaggerating if I called 2011 the year for social media in law enforcement?” I answer to you Tracy, No. It’s not an exaggeration. I think back to late 2008 when I ran my first Twitter Search for the word police. 15 results, 12 actual police agencies, no individuals and of those 12 agencies… NO interaction with the public. Tweets that added no foreseeable values were being sent and no RT’s, @replies, or @mentions. Facebook? Even less police were there… at least less agencies and individuals identifying themselves as police. You could find lots of people you suspected were police by their listed occupation, “Human Garbage Collector” or their latest status update, “Just found a dismembered body in an abandoned building. Reminds me, need to pick up pasta and sauce for dinner tonight.” Or their page likes, friends, and so on. There were only a few places to go that someone v ...

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The Richmond Police Department will celebrate three years of social media use as of this month so it’s quite an appropriate time to reflect on the year’s social media efforts, what we’ve learned, and some highlights. We’ve definitely learned how to better handle inappropriate and negative comments we receive through our social media sites. Without going into specifics since some events are still ongoing, we’ve really had to be on the ball when it comes to receiving a flood of comments bordering on being inappropriate. Do we like all the opinions or comments people post on our Facebook wall? Of course not. Do we delete them all? Of course not! Though our social media policy guides us, it’s a balancing act between what comments violate our policy and what comments aren’t all positive. We’ve tried to be even more responsive to our inquiries on social media. On Twitter, for example, we try to respond to tweets if we can with answers, information, and retweets, ...

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Would I be exaggerating to call 2011 year of social media for law enforcement? Er, maybe but I don’t think so. Would I be overstating to say we’ve seen an “explosion” in law enforcement’s use of social media over the course of the year? Not really. In fact, handy sites such as this blog and the corresponding Center for Social Media, have contributed to the proliferation by helping departments navigate the waters of Facebook, Twitter, and the like more ably. In terms of recruitment…while the economy certainly has had an impact on hiring, the effects are localized. Many agencies are actively hiring. A query on the IACP’s career center, Discover Policing, will result in hundreds of results. Accordingly, we’ve seen robust use of social media by law enforcement as a means of sourcing candidates. So much so that as we close 2011, I believe we may be on the backside of the curve. I have no scientific basis for this claim, but I hypothesize that law enforcement& ...

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Live streaming news conferences, tweet-alongs, blogging, tweeting during hostage negotiations and active shooter situations, calm yet strong messaging during crisis, making our agencies agency “one-stop-shops” for media with video and sound in news releases, and effecting outreach through improved “in-reach” in our departments. To review the PIO section workshops during the IACP Conference in Chicago, how much time do you have? Please look at Tim Burrows recent blog on a Chicago Wrap Up. I echo all Tim’s comments, from thanking the tremendous speakers, to all those who attended the sessions, asked questions, and elaborated on ideas. After being a full-time police PIO for eight years, I still have a dozen pages of detailed notes with lots of asterisks creating a new ‘To Do’ list. The ideas and inspiration for improving, not only BPD’s social networking, but also our daily public information outreach and media relations make this year’s IACP confere ...

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Most of my blogs are about why we in law enforcement should use social media. But what I usually don’t touch upon is when those in law enforcement use their personal pages and say the wrong things. I’m writing about it today because I’ve seen a lot of articles as of late referencing officers saying dumb and crazy things on their private social media pages. Just some examples… * Here in Florida the South Florida Times just ran an article about an officer in South Florida that tweeted with adult film stars and made derogatory remarks about his supervisors on his personal Twitter account. He tweeted while on duty in violation of the department’s social media policies. He has become the first employee of that department to be investigated for his social media activities. * In Law Enforcement Today there was just an article about an officer in a department in Virginia who shot an unarmed civilian who did not obey his commands. In the media coverage following the incident, re ...

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Most law enforcement agencies have a Web site. In fact, many have robust Web sites that are informative, educational, and contain a lot of good information of interest to their communities. If you are one of the people who think simply having a departmental Web site is good enough, please read on. Your departmental Web site is extremely important. It is the location you store all of your static content as well as update when you have new information to post. The content must stay fresh and updated for the site to be effective. Your departmental Web site can and should be reflective of what is happening at your department. In general though, it can sometimes be a challenge to get community members to visit the departmental Web site. You can advertise your Web site but unless someone has a specific reason to visit it, they seldom do. This is where social media comes in. When your department uses social media, it gains access to groups of people who may not otherwise have had an interest in the department. ...

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Well it has been a few weeks since Chicago. I’ve had some time to reflect on my experience there, albeit a short time there, and also to watch what has happened since then. Being part of the PIO track offered me the opportunity to meet some of the people I look to for tips on how to use new media to do their jobs more effectively. The innovators, the calculated risk takers, and the mavericks who have grabbed hold of the use of social media and learned how to effectively integrate it with traditional lines of communication and outreach. Meeting those people in real life added a depth to the relationship, which had been established through online interaction, e-mails and the odd phone call. Others I was able to reconnect with from previous meetings. Sitting down and talking with them, listening to their stories, challenges, and accomplishments was great. I value the relationships, which have been created in a cyber setting, but nothing replaces face-to-face interaction. I’ve thought back t ...

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